Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC reduced its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 3.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 748 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.7% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 3,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 52.6% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WEC. Scotiabank upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.17.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of WEC opened at $95.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.12. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $96.15.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,335.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total value of $66,337.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,876 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,932.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $213,335.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by 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.