Cidel Asset Management Inc. Sells 42,634 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Cidel Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 146,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 42,634 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $13,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Czech National Bank boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 7.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $285,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 4.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 9.2% in the third quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 40.1% in the third quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 4,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 1,182 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $101.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $32.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.60. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.98.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its 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). WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 69.15%.

Insider Activity

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on WEC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp raised their target price on 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 raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.56.

WEC Energy Group 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.