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

Northcape Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vantage Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $461,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,485,000. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 23,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,978,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 358.6% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,743 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.64.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC traded down $0.14 on Tuesday, hitting $82.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,947,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,134,332. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $97.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $26.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.42.

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

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, 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 value of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.