Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Raises Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 14.3% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.8% in the second quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callan Capital LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 3,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.64.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $116.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.55. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.94 and a 1 year high of $118.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $110.54 and a 200-day moving average of $107.96. The company has a market cap of $37.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.47.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.90%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.8925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.39%.

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 on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total value of $179,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,360 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,960. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 5,930 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.14, for a total value of $659,060.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $734,190.84. The trade was a 47.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,448 shares of company stock valued at $7,581,132 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.