HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 11,593 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 13.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,517 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,593 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $9,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,248 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park National Corp OH grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on WEC. Scotiabank increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $96.18.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEC traded up $0.02 during trading on Monday, hitting $97.11. 1,202,500 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,119,805. The company has a market cap of $30.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $97.69 and a 200 day moving average of $90.09. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.8925 dividend. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.29%.

WEC Energy Group 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.