Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Acquires 34,277 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 431.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,277 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $4,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.9% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 29,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,396,000 after buying an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.4% in the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 18,778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 794 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.1% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 98,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of WEC opened at $100.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $31.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.88. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $101.43.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.66%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The trade was a 43.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,314 shares of company stock valued at $5,047,988 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WEC. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Company 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.