Short Interest in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Declines By 15.4%

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,810,000 shares, a drop of 15.4% from the March 31st total of 8,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,402,131.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thomas Story & Son LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 269.6% in the first quarter. Thomas Story & Son LLC now owns 84,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after acquiring an additional 61,430 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 15.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 175,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,398,000 after acquiring an additional 23,605 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 10.0% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 485,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,900,000 after acquiring an additional 44,273 shares during the last quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 158.1% in the 1st quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 6,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trueblood Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock traded down $0.16 on Tuesday, hitting $82.64. The company had a trading volume of 2,331,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,118,557. WEC Energy Group has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $97.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $80.34 and a 200-day moving average of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.40.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 14.98%. The company’s revenue was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 79.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WEC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.64.

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.