Haverford Trust Co Acquires 190 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the quarter. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.2% in the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 16,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,325,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 6.4% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 26,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 1,610 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 10.1% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $880,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,851,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,148,000 after buying an additional 40,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 62.3% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 5,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 1,983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WEC. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.29.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $85.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.62. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $93.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 16.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.93%.

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.