Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 6,594 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 211,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,594 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of WEC Energy Group worth $19,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WEC. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. Scotiabank boosted their target price on 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

NYSE WEC opened at $97.66 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $30.90 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.48. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.57.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was 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. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.