WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Shares Newly Bought by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 82,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,289,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1ST Source Bank raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.0% during the first quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 3,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of WEC opened at $118.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.43. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.80 and a 1 year high of $119.91. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.58.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.21. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.54% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a $0.9525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 69.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total transaction of $103,468.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,101.04. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $116.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $110.50 to $108.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.00.

WEC Energy Group Profile

WEC Energy Group, Inc is an energy holding company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through its operating companies, the company generates and delivers electricity and provides natural gas distribution, storage and related energy services to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

WEC Energy’s principal utility businesses include We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service in Wisconsin, Michigan Gas Utilities, Minnesota Energy Resources, Upper Michigan Energy Resources and North Dakota utility operations.