California Public Employees Retirement System Has $164.62 Million Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,955,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,271 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.62% of WEC Energy Group worth $164,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WEC. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5,257.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,465,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,015,000 after buying an additional 1,437,768 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 131.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 861,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,379,000 after buying an additional 488,917 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,727.0% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 371,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,954,000 after buying an additional 369,786 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 8,801.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 261,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,035,000 after buying an additional 258,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 88.9% during the third quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 414,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,374,000 after buying an additional 195,025 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.2 %

WEC stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $82.14. The stock had a trading volume of 717,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,122,084. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $79.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $98.80. The firm has a market cap of $25.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WEC. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.64.

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.