Hilltop Holdings Inc. Buys New Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,316,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the 2nd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 1.5 %

WEC opened at $98.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.46. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $97.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.45.

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.