WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Stock: Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Reduces Stake

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA decreased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 22.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 369,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 106,780 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.11% of WEC Energy Group worth $37,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 4,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1ST Source Bank boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 3,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $122.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 26th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Stephens set a $109.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $121.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.88.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE WEC opened at $116.93 on Wednesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.80 and a twelve month high of $120.15. The stock has a market cap of $38.47 billion, a PE ratio of 21.22, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.53.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 13.49% and a net margin of 17.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.61 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.9525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 69.15%.

About WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group is a regulated energy holding company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through its subsidiaries, it generates, transmits and distributes electricity and provides natural gas service to residential, commercial and industrial customers. The company’s utility operations serve communities across Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota. Its businesses include electric and gas utilities, as well as natural gas storage and related energy services. WEC Energy Group adopted its current name in 2015, following the combination of Wisconsin Energy Corporation and Integrys Energy Group.