Mizuho Securities USA LLC Acquires 9,487 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 46.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,487 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 5,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 14,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,286,635.67. The trade was a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 274,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $105.85 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $102.87 and its 200 day moving average is $98.63. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.47 and a 12-month high of $110.19. The stock has a market cap of $33.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.