Empirical Finance LLC Has $935,000 Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 3.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WEC. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 36,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,037,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 6,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.7% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.1% in the first quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Financial Group raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 3,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.92.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $80.79. 1,686,363 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,110,573. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.77. The stock has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a PE ratio of 17.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.41. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $93.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 13.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.