Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Lowers Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lowered its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC – Get Rating) by 54.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $64,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 19.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 6,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 8.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 848,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,682,000 after buying an additional 65,287 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 10.2% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 34,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,461,000 after buying an additional 3,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 11.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.36, for a total transaction of $141,540.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,029,023.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. 888 restated a “maintains” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $109.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.10.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $86.71 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $27.35 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.82 and a 1-year high of $108.20.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 11.60%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.90%.

WEC Energy Group Profile

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WEC Energy Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the generation and distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure and Corporate & Other. The Wisconsin segment refers to the electric and gas utility operations.