Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at $983,000. Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 582,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,022,000 after purchasing an additional 131,797 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 316,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,391,000 after purchasing an additional 19,867 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 428,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,059,000 after acquiring an additional 14,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 324.5% in the 4th quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 39,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 30,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on WEC. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on 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 increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.92.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $78.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.41. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $93.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 16.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.61 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th were issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 72.93%.

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.