Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 30.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 19.4% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 109,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,985,000 after acquiring an additional 17,807 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 19.1% in the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 4,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 45,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,723,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 43.2% during the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 44,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,675,000 after acquiring an additional 13,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 335.4% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 54,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,442,000 after acquiring an additional 41,668 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WEC. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of WEC opened at $97.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.15. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $100.31.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.66%.

Insider Activity

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $340,712.48. The trade was a 46.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $557,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The trade was a 43.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.