Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 47,759 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,584,915 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 47,759 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.50% of WEC Energy Group worth $149,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 57,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 22.2% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 830 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 23.5% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 9,756 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 39,516 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,801,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 12,514 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,204,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $104.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,969,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,163,607. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $76.50 and a one year high of $104.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $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 firm has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on WEC shares. Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, 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, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $101.88.

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.