Wrapmanager Inc. Buys New Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Wrapmanager Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $293,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.0% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,193,000 after buying an additional 4,205 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2,949.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 232,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,204,000 after acquiring an additional 224,410 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 62,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,047,000 after acquiring an additional 7,646 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 29,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,640 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 359.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,453,000 after purchasing an additional 90,062 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,712.48. This trade represents a 46.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,208.98. This represents a 43.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC stock opened at $99.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.56. The company has a market capitalization of $31.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $100.31.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Company 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.