Thomas Story & Son LLC Acquires 5,855 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Thomas Story & Son LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 6.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 92,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,855 shares during the quarter. WEC Energy Group comprises 3.7% of Thomas Story & Son LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Thomas Story & Son LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $9,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,594,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $892,020,000 after acquiring an additional 235,653 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 34.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,213,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $567,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349,522 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 16.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,103,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $556,191,000 after purchasing an additional 726,267 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.8% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,274,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $466,451,000 after purchasing an additional 33,810 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,003,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,298,000 after purchasing an additional 188,057 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $131.00 price target on WEC Energy Group in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.21.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC stock opened at $110.80 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.94 and a 1 year high of $118.18. The company has a market cap of $36.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $112.89 and a 200 day moving average of $108.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.75%.The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.8925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.49%.

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.