National Pension Service Trims Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

National Pension Service lowered its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 360,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 45,973 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $33,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total transaction of $119,795.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,286,635.67. This represents a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $106.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $98.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.93. The company has a market cap of $33.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $76.78 and a 52-week high of $107.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.91%.

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.