Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC Decreases Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC cut its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,332,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,726 shares during the period. WEC Energy Group comprises about 2.2% of Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC owned about 0.42% of WEC Energy Group worth $125,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 22,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after purchasing an additional 3,115 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 63,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,991,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 172.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 95,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,980,000 after purchasing an additional 60,497 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 5,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 1,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 42,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,995,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on WEC shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target 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. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $105.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.47 and a 52-week high of $108.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $99.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,286,635.67. This represents a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.