Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC Trims Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC lowered its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,138 shares during the period. WEC Energy Group comprises about 2.4% of Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $8,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 27,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,152,000 after buying an additional 2,333 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 158.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 35.1% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 10.4% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 100,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,865,000 after purchasing an additional 9,480 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 119,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,411,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WEC. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC stock opened at $98.15 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $96.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.26. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its 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 return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.29%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value 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 approximately $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.