Ariston Services Group Buys New Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Ariston Services Group purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the second quarter worth about $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 52.6% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,377 shares in the company, valued at $213,335.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,932.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,335.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of WEC stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $95.69. 104,545 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,128,161. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $100.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.94.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.93%.

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.