Financial Counselors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3,828.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 140.8% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC opened at $107.50 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $103.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.92. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.47 and a 1 year high of $110.19. The stock has a market cap of $33.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45. 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 (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

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.