PAX Financial Group LLC Cuts Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

PAX Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC – Get Rating) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. PAX Financial Group LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 563.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,320,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,757,000 after buying an additional 1,121,075 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,460,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,707,780,000 after buying an additional 820,031 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3,144.1% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC now owns 683,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,109,000 after buying an additional 662,252 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 29,308,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,621,096,000 after buying an additional 440,902 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 153.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 678,057 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,677,000 after buying an additional 410,082 shares during the period. 74.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $109.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, 888 reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.36, for a total transaction of $141,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,503 shares in the company, valued at $2,029,023.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

NYSE:WEC traded down $0.28 on Friday, reaching $86.43. 191,229 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,310,637. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.98. The firm has a market cap of $27.26 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.82 and a 12 month high of $108.20.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 72.90%.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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WEC Energy Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the generation and distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure and Corporate & Other. The Wisconsin segment refers to the electric and gas utility operations.