ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 2,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $100.23 on Wednesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $102.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $96.66 and a 200-day moving average of $93.41. The firm has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.48.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 87.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp increased 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 over the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.