Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Grows Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $3,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in 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 worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 58.1% during the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park National Corp OH raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on WEC. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock opened at $99.85 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $31.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $99.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $94.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.07.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 77.14%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,208.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,208.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total value of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,712.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.