Blue Trust Inc. Buys 3,121 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 24.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after purchasing an additional 25,975,652 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,453,000 after purchasing an additional 105,580 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $462,276,000 after purchasing an additional 699,177 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,794,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $362,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,223 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. 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 three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $99.07 on Wednesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year 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. The stock has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $96.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.13.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during 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%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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.