UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Increases Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,453,000 after purchasing an additional 105,580 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after buying an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,794,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691,017 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,863,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,350,000 after acquiring an additional 87,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,261,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,691,000 after acquiring an additional 46,609 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE WEC opened at $105.73 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $103.27 and a 200-day moving average of $98.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.47 and a 12 month high of $110.19. The company has a market cap of $33.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WEC. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of 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. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.88.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 274,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,865,612.10. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% 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.