Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,681 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,316,000.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,248 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the 2nd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $598,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Park National Corp OH boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the 3rd 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.
Analyst Ratings Changes
WEC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a "hold" rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $95.55.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on WEC Energy Group
Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group
In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.1 %
WEC traded up $0.13 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $98.35. The company had a trading volume of 1,769,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,129,253. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $102.79. The business's fifty day moving average price is $97.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.74. The company has a market cap of $31.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.05, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.46.
WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.
WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 81.66%.
About WEC Energy Group
(
Free Report)
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.
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