Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Has $2.25 Million Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lowered its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 574 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 5,257.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,465,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,015,000 after buying an additional 1,437,768 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 131.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 861,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,379,000 after purchasing an additional 488,917 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,727.0% in the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 371,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,954,000 after buying an additional 369,786 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 8,801.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 261,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,035,000 after buying an additional 258,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 414,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,374,000 after buying an additional 195,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,402,131.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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. Bank of America reaffirmed 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.64.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $82.59 on Thursday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $96.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $80.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.43.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 79.15%.

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.