HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 13,410 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,410 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $10,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 14,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 2,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 274,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,286,635.67. This represents a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WEC. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on 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 upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.7 %

WEC opened at $106.89 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $101.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.06. The company has a market capitalization of $33.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.47 and a 52 week high of $110.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

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.