First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys 1,515 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,515 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 155,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,529,000 after acquiring an additional 4,097 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 39,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 317,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,547,000 after acquiring an additional 11,865 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 47.8% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 19,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 6,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 69,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,606,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 13th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.29.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WEC stock opened at $83.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $96.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $80.60 and its 200 day moving average is $81.44.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 16.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.61 EPS. Research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 72.93%.

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.