Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Sells 5,791 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 26.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,791 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 3,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WEC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 9,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.88, for a total value of $1,023,533.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 56,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,258,399.84. This represents a 14.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.73, for a total value of $3,875,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 274,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,447,317.37. The trade was a 11.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,448 shares of company stock valued at $7,581,132 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC stock opened at $113.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.45 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.47. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.94 and a 1 year high of $114.97.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.87%.The business’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.170-5.270 EPS. Equities research 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a $0.8925 dividend. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.39%.

About WEC Energy Group

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.