Private Trust Co. NA Boosts Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $362,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,223 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,328,000 after purchasing an additional 688,812 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 151.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 583,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,168,000 after purchasing an additional 351,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 10,220.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 303,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,192,000 after purchasing an additional 300,574 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

Insider Activity

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at $340,712.48. This represents a 46.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,034 shares of company stock worth $5,168,029. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WEC opened at $101.83 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $102.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $97.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.22. The company has a market capitalization of $32.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.44.

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

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

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.