Stifel Financial Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,216,379 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 47,293 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 0.38% of WEC Energy Group worth $116,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 3.8% during the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 5,091 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 37.6% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 19,473 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,873,000 after acquiring an additional 5,322 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 51.0% during the third quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,978 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 10,126 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 23.7% during the third quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 144,308 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $13,880,000 after acquiring an additional 27,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 5.8% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,939 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $956,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEC has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group started 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. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $95.55.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of WEC traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $97.09. 1,468,634 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,123,555. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.80. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The company has a market cap of $30.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.74, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.8925 dividend. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. WEC Energy Group's payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

About WEC Energy Group

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.