KLCM Advisors Inc. Acquires 722 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

KLCM Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 5,257.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,465,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,768 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 563.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,320,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,075 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 131.3% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 861,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,379,000 after purchasing an additional 488,917 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 153.0% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 678,057 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,677,000 after purchasing an additional 410,082 shares during the period. Finally, CI Investments Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17,727.0% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 371,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,954,000 after purchasing an additional 369,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEC traded down $1.09 on Wednesday, hitting $77.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,968,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,519,202. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.33. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $98.80. The company has a market capitalization of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 14.98%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 13th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $78.00 price target (down previously from $84.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.31.

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.