Cerity Partners LLC Has $2.59 Million Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 136.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,750 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5,257.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,465,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,768 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 563.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,320,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,075 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 131.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 861,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,379,000 after purchasing an additional 488,917 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 153.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 678,057 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,677,000 after purchasing an additional 410,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,727.0% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 371,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,954,000 after purchasing an additional 369,786 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (down from $84.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $80.44 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $25.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $98.80.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 14.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 79.15%.

About WEC Energy Group

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.