GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires New Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 7,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $580,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 582,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,022,000 after buying an additional 131,797 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 428,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,059,000 after purchasing an additional 14,084 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 205,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,552,000 after purchasing an additional 24,892 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 44,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,855,000. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of WEC stock traded up $0.61 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $82.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 610,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,118,739. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $26.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $79.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.41. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $98.80.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.