CWS Financial Advisors LLC Invests $200,000 in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,500,680,000 after purchasing an additional 25,975,652 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,971,000 after buying an additional 1,912,223 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.7% in the second 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 last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 151.7% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 10,220.1% in the third 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 last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WEC. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.3 %

WEC stock opened at $101.82 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $97.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.31. The firm has a market cap of $32.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

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.