Czech National Bank Increases Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,204 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $6,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 23,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 63.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 24,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,941,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 5.1% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 3.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,782,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,889,000 after purchasing an additional 61,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 434.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $146,000 after buying an additional 1,517 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of WEC opened at $94.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The company has a 50-day moving average of $96.56 and a 200 day moving average of $92.84.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly 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. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.8925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.29%.

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.