Sagefield Capital LP Buys 13,363 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Sagefield Capital LP lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 18.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 84,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,363 shares during the quarter. Sagefield Capital LP’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $7,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Scientech Research LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 13,825 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 3,167 shares during the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 54.9% during the fourth quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,775,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,825,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $171,680,000 after purchasing an additional 122,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $114,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total transaction of $2,715,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 274,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. This trade represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $106.50 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $106.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $33.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.47 and a 1 year high of $111.00.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.09. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.97 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.8975 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 69.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on WEC shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $106.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $115.00 target price on WEC Energy Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.13.

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.