Venturi Wealth Management LLC Purchases 773 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 773 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $762,453,000 after acquiring an additional 105,580 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after acquiring an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $453,794,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,223 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $103.54 on Thursday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.50 and a 52 week high of $104.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $97.44 and a 200 day moving average of $96.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.49.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.91%.

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.