Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,985 WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $99.18 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $31.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.90.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank raised 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. KeyCorp boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. Corporate insiders own 0.44% 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.