AE Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 171,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,970 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $19,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 25.4% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.4% in the third quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 6,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. MTM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 20,117 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,305,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WEC. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $127.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $129.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.2%

WEC stock opened at $110.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.51. The company has a market capitalization of $35.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.58. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.37 and a twelve month high of $118.18.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $0.9525 dividend. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.49%.

WEC Energy Group Profile

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.