Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Cuts Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC trimmed its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 596 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 134.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,047,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,038,931,000 after acquiring an additional 6,329,574 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,063,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $756,423,000 after purchasing an additional 110,802 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after purchasing an additional 699,177 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,863,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,350,000 after buying an additional 87,711 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,261,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,691,000 after buying an additional 46,609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 274,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,865,612.10. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC stock opened at $108.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.47 and a 1 year high of $110.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $104.19 and a 200 day moving average of $99.20. The company has a market cap of $34.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

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.