Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Takes Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 29,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 18,778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 98,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,208.98. This represents a 43.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 51,314 shares of company stock valued at $5,047,988. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of WEC stock opened at $100.66 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $101.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $31.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.44.

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 firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

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.