Toronto Dominion Bank Raises Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 51.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 152,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,603 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $11,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. 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 research note on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at $716,208.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total value of $66,337.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,876 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,932.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.7 %

WEC stock opened at $95.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.30. 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 quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.