Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Purchases 546 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WEC. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,071,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $342,669,000 after buying an additional 116,219 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,328,000 after buying an additional 688,812 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,782,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,889,000 after buying an additional 61,019 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,748,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,557,000 after buying an additional 462,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $127,945,000. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. KeyCorp upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. Finally, 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 report on Friday, August 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total value of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $340,712.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total value of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $340,712.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $120,918.36. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,796.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 1.5 %

WEC stock opened at $93.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.82. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $96.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $29.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.44.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.93%.

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.