Dahring Cusmano LLC Buys Shares of 2,908 WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Dahring Cusmano LLC bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 110,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,405,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,392,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,538,000. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 10,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 453,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,689,000 after acquiring an additional 78,580 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.5 %

WEC opened at $104.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $97.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.33. The company has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.50 and a 1 year high of $104.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WEC. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

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.