High Falls Advisors Inc Invests $217,000 in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

High Falls Advisors Inc acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 3,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WEC. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $106.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Scotiabank set a $115.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.40.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total value of $179,820.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,960. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 5,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.14, for a total transaction of $659,060.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,606 shares in the company, valued at $734,190.84. This represents a 47.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,603 shares of company stock worth $7,813,377. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 1.6%

NYSE:WEC opened at $108.23 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $106.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.00. The company has a market capitalization of $34.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.53 and a 1-year high of $111.90.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a $0.8925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.39%.

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.