D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 132,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,716,000 after buying an additional 11,198 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 10,220.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 303,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,192,000 after purchasing an additional 300,574 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth $216,000. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 54,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,452 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on WEC shares. 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. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank increased their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock opened at $104.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $97.76 and a 200 day moving average of $96.39. The firm has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.50 and a 1 year high of $104.98.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 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 firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.91%.

WEC Energy Group Company 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.