Northcape Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 5,530 WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Northcape Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 6.9% in the third quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 4,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 13,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 155,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,529,000 after purchasing an additional 4,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toews Corp ADV acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $757,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WEC traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $82.66. 2,947,266 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,134,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $26.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.42. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $97.34.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WEC. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.64.

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.