Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 32,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 969 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 36,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,037,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 3,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,796 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Carlson Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 3,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WEC. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.92.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $78.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,419,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,115,833. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $93.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $81.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $24.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.42.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.07. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 13.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.