Townsquare Capital LLC Has $11.19 Million Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 116,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,731 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $11,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Czech National Bank grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,205 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2,949.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 232,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,204,000 after purchasing an additional 224,410 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 7,646 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 7,640 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 359.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,453,000 after purchasing an additional 90,062 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.3 %

WEC stock opened at $101.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.22. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The company has a market capitalization of $32.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.44.

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

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.66%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at $340,712.48. The trade was a 46.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,034 shares of company stock worth $5,168,029. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.