Cidel Asset Management Inc. Sells 42,634 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Cidel Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 146,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 42,634 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $13,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WEC. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WEC. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.56.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC stock opened at $101.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $32.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.98. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $102.79.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 69.15%.

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.