Castellan Group Invests $3.62 Million in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Castellan Group purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 38,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,617,000. WEC Energy Group comprises approximately 1.6% of Castellan Group’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WEC. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth about $64,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 20.7% in the third 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 last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WEC shares. Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $102.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $32.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.55. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. Equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.15%.

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.