Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Has $2.49 Million Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,511 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,067 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 16.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,117,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $87,713,000 after purchasing an additional 160,128 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,325 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 899,091 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $70,543,000 after acquiring an additional 167,340 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 152,088 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,933,000 after acquiring an additional 28,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 40,362 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,167,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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, December 2nd. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock traded up $0.79 during trading on Monday, hitting $99.18. 2,024,149 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,306,195. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $96.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.26. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. WEC Energy Group's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.66%.

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.