Apollon Financial LLC Acquires New Shares in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Apollon Financial LLC bought a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 18,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,764,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 110,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,405,000 after buying an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,538,000. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at $1,392,000. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,883,000 after purchasing an additional 10,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 453,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,689,000 after purchasing an additional 78,580 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group 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 directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of 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 lifted their target price on shares of 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 shares of 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 report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.56.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 1.0 %

WEC stock opened at $101.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.60. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.98. The company has a market cap of $32.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.15%.

WEC Energy Group 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.