WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Shares Purchased by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 419,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,905 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 0.13% of WEC Energy Group worth $48,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WEC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,945,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,162,348,000 after purchasing an additional 816,243 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 324.1% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 774,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,722,000 after buying an additional 592,028 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 160.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 943,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $98,361,000 after acquiring an additional 581,748 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the first quarter worth approximately $36,412,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 477.4% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 333,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,756,000 after acquiring an additional 275,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $106.06 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $108.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.50 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.33. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.94 and a 12 month high of $118.18.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.75%. As a group, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a $0.9525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WEC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $131.00 price target on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup assumed coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. BTIG Research upgraded WEC Energy Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $123.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.64.

WEC Energy Group Profile

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.