Howe & Rusling Inc. Buys New Shares in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Howe & Rusling Inc. purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commerce Bank boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.5% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 79,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,653,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 3,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 817 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth $429,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 33,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,143,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $12,436,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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. KeyCorp boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $99.26 on Thursday. 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 $31.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $100.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.64.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at $340,712.48. The trade was a 46.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,045 shares of company stock valued at $1,038,807 over the last three months. 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.