6,441 Shares in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Purchased by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,441 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $619,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,388 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,205 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 109,421 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,985,000 after acquiring an additional 17,807 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2,949.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 232,018 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $18,204,000 after acquiring an additional 224,410 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 29,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.8% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 62,873 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,047,000 after purchasing an additional 7,646 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WEC has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.45.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $340,712.48. This represents a 46.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $716,208.98. This trade represents a 43.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:WEC traded up $1.30 on Monday, reaching $99.28. 1,958,348 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,157,075. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $100.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company's 50 day moving average is $96.24 and its 200-day moving average is $88.34.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.66%.

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.