Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 5,069 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 46.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,069 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,794,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691,017 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $362,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,223 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 valued at $462,276,000 after acquiring an additional 699,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 57.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,900,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,765,000 after acquiring an additional 695,317 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WEC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. 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. Scotiabank lifted 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, 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 value of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.8 %

WEC opened at $99.18 on Tuesday. The stock 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 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $102.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

WEC Energy Group 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.