North Star Asset Management Inc. Acquires 494 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

North Star Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 9.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth about $983,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 316,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,391,000 after purchasing an additional 19,867 shares during the period. Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 324.5% during the fourth quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 39,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,304,000 after purchasing an additional 30,009 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 37,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,162,000 after purchasing an additional 9,526 shares during the period. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 324.9% in the first quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 21,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.77.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC opened at $93.65 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $86.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $95.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.44.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.85% and a return on equity of 12.26%. The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.93%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 approximately $716,208.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were 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 owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $340,712.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,702 shares of company stock worth $1,078,058 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.