Certior Financial Group LLC Takes Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Certior Financial Group LLC bought a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 134.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,047,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,038,931,000 after acquiring an additional 6,329,574 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,063,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $756,423,000 after purchasing an additional 110,802 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after buying an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,863,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $363,350,000 after buying an additional 87,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,261,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,691,000 after buying an additional 46,609 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total transaction of $119,795.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98 % 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 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 274,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on WEC. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $104.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $33.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $104.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.38. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.47 and a 1 year high of $111.00.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Company 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.