ING Groep NV Buys 6,364 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

ING Groep NV raised its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 98.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,364 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,453,000 after purchasing an additional 105,580 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $462,276,000 after purchasing an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $453,794,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 valued at $362,971,000 after buying an additional 1,912,223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective 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. Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC stock opened at $104.04 on Monday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $76.50 and a 1-year high of $104.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $97.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.44. The firm has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 73.91%.

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.