WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Shares Sold by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC cut its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 829 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. abrdn plc grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 129,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,933,000 after buying an additional 54,623 shares in the last quarter. HTLF Bank acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth about $245,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 40,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 377.7% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 32,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after purchasing an additional 6,182 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WEC. StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (down from $84.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. KeyCorp upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.64.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC stock opened at $82.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $98.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 14.98%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.15%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.