Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 134.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,047,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,038,931,000 after acquiring an additional 6,329,574 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,063,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $756,423,000 after buying an additional 110,802 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,722,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $538,112,000 after buying an additional 173,006 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after buying an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,212,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $396,114,000 after buying an additional 309,697 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on WEC shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Scotiabank set a $115.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.13.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of WEC stock opened at $105.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $106.84 and its 200-day moving average is $102.66. The stock has a market cap of $33.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.47 and a 52-week high of $111.00.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.09. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.97 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.8975 per share. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.59 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 2,155 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.77, for a total value of $232,244.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $289,470.22. This represents a 44.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently 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.