Townsquare Capital LLC Sells 5,985 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Townsquare Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 70.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,985 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WEC. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 93,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,764,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.9% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 171,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,683,000 after buying an additional 7,970 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 133,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,312,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 9.1% during the third quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 11,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 42,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,883,000 after acquiring an additional 5,638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $110.74 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.37 and a 1 year high of $118.18. The company has a market capitalization of $36.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $107.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.75%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. Analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a $0.9525 dividend. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 67.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on WEC. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $127.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

About WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.