Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Decreases Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. reduced its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 232,905 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,785 shares during the quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. owned about 0.07% of WEC Energy Group worth $21,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 110,644 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,405,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,392,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,538,000. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,978 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,883,000 after purchasing an additional 10,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 453,945 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,689,000 after acquiring an additional 78,580 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $101.88.

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WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WEC traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $104.04. 2,969,450 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,163,607. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $97.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.50 and a fifty-two week high of $104.98.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.91%.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

WEC Energy Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides regulated natural gas and electricity, and renewable and nonregulated renewable energy services in the United States. It operates through Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, and Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure segments.