Fifth Third Bancorp Lowers Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 84,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,851 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $7,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 2,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.7% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of 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 shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $98.02 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $102.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $96.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.86 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.66%.

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.