Sigma Planning Corp Sells 3,231 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Sigma Planning Corp cut its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 57.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,231 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,495,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,697,000 after purchasing an additional 158,652 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,295,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $346,021,000 after acquiring an additional 142,412 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 3.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,216,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,620,000 after acquiring an additional 155,437 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,354,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $270,179,000 after purchasing an additional 44,797 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,851,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $149,148,000 after purchasing an additional 40,603 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $82.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $97.34.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.64.

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.