Financial Counselors Inc. Makes New Investment in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Financial Counselors Inc. bought a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 55,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,311,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 73,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,038,000 after buying an additional 1,367 shares during the period. True Vision MN LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 116,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,187,000 after buying an additional 7,731 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $118,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America raised their target price on 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, KeyCorp raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.8 %

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $101.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $31.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $102.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 over the last 90 days. 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.