Nomura Holdings Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 122.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 38,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,285 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $4,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter worth about $27,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on WEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $121.00 to $113.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $129.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. BTIG Research raised shares of WEC Energy Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $131.00 target price on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC opened at $105.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.94 and a 12-month high of $118.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $111.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.15.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.75%. Equities 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 72.02%.

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.