Hennessy Advisors Inc. Purchases 4,900 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 179,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,900 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.06% of WEC Energy Group worth $16,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.40.

Insider Activity

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $98.46 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The stock has a market cap of $31.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 2.36 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $96.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.86.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.29%.

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.