Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Grows Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 587 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 3.0% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,495,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,697,000 after buying an additional 158,652 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,295,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,021,000 after purchasing an additional 142,412 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,216,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,620,000 after purchasing an additional 155,437 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,851,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,148,000 after purchasing an additional 40,603 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 13th. 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 equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.64.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC opened at $81.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $79.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.41. 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 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $98.80.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 79.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

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

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.