Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 232,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,785 shares during the period. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. owned about 0.07% of WEC Energy Group worth $21,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 2,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 10,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.7% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $103.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.60. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $76.50 and a one year high of $104.01. The company has a market capitalization of $32.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 69.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on WEC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% 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.