2,136 Shares in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Acquired by Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC

Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 8,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $844,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 8,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 70,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,675,000 after buying an additional 1,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 82,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.7 %

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $98.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.62. 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 (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of 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. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About WEC Energy Group

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.