Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 2,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,205 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth about $1,392,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,538,000. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 10,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 62,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,047,000 after acquiring an additional 7,646 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $99.18 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.90. The stock has a market cap of $31.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. 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 (NYSE:WEC) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 81.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WEC. Scotiabank upped their price target on 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. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.