Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 905 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 905 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 5,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,849 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 4,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $389,000. Finally, Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WEC shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WEC opened at $106.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $33.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.78 and a 1 year high of $107.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.04.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.91%.

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.