Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WEC. apricus wealth LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 23,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter worth $201,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 8,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $844,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 8,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of WEC Energy Group 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WEC shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $100.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $31.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $96.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.98. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $102.79.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

About WEC Energy Group

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.