Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lessened its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 86.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 46,159 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $762,453,000 after purchasing an additional 105,580 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after purchasing an additional 699,177 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $453,794,000 after buying an additional 4,691,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,863,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,350,000 after buying an additional 87,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,261,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,691,000 after buying an additional 46,609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WEC. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,286,635.67. This represents a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total transaction of $2,715,500.00. Following the completion of 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 currently owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WEC opened at $107.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.47 and a 12-month high of $110.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $101.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

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.