WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Stake Reduced by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Baillie Gifford & Co. reduced its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 57.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 80,931 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $5,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 9,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth $12,616,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 534.3% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 35,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,506,000 after purchasing an additional 30,269 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 23,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,221,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 131.9% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp increased their price target 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. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of WEC stock opened at $103.01 on Wednesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.50 and a fifty-two week high of $104.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.03.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 69.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.