Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 3,121 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 24.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WEC. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of WEC stock opened at $99.07 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $96.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.13. The company has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.