Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT Buys 838 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 838 shares during the quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WEC. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 5.3% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 47.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,441,000 after buying an additional 17,791 shares during the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth $300,000. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 57.4% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Personal Financial Services raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 236.3% in the third quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 1,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Price Performance

WEC traded down $1.32 on Friday, reaching $81.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,945,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,418,732. The company has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $97.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.55.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WEC. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $78.00 price target (down previously from $84.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays cut their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.64.

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.