WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 821,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,274 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $79,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 5.2% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $474,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 58.1% during the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the third quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Park National Corp OH boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $96.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of $96.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.10. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $100.31.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $557,940.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The trade was a 43.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total value of $301,449.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at $340,712.48. This trade represents a 46.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WEC. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

About WEC Energy Group

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.