Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Buys 2,358 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 56.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,358 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WEC shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.91.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE WEC opened at $95.74 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $102.79.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.8925 dividend. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 81.66%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.