Thrive Wealth Management LLC Sells 144 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Thrive Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 144 shares during the quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 2,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.7% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $99.18 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $96.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.40.

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.