Boston Trust Walden Corp Increases Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 42.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 202,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,667 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned about 0.06% of WEC Energy Group worth $23,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 11,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,375,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 9.0% during the third quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 2,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.2% in the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 16,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the last quarter. Financial Partners Group Inc purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.2%

WEC stock opened at $105.67 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $34.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.56. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.94 and a 12 month high of $118.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.08.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.75%. Equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 67.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $131.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Monday, October 27th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $123.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $129.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.92.

WEC Energy Group Profile

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.