Venturi Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 773 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,500,680,000 after buying an additional 25,975,652 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $762,453,000 after acquiring an additional 105,580 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 699,177 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $453,794,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691,017 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $362,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,223 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WEC shares. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.4 %

WEC stock opened at $103.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $32.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $97.44 and its 200 day moving average is $96.17. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $76.50 and a one year high of $104.15.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.91%.

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.