Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Purchases 1,095 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,095 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $3,680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,328,000 after buying an additional 688,812 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,748,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $143,557,000 after buying an additional 462,646 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 151.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 583,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,168,000 after buying an additional 351,972 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 10,220.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 303,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,192,000 after buying an additional 300,574 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,283,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,494,000 after buying an additional 264,654 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $98.69 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $100.31.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,208.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total value of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,712.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.