Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY Takes $254,000 Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY bought a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,205 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth $1,392,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2,949.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 232,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,204,000 after buying an additional 224,410 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.8% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 62,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,047,000 after buying an additional 7,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 35.0% during the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 29,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after buying an additional 7,640 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.8 %

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $101.05 on Monday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $102.79. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $97.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WEC shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.45.

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.