Burling Wealth Partners LLC Makes New Investment in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Burling Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,856 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,585,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,799,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,094,000 after purchasing an additional 8,009 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 15,565 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,464,000 after buying an additional 4,105 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 498,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $46,841,000 after purchasing an additional 5,785 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 606,764 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,995,000 after acquiring an additional 110,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total transaction of $119,795.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,286,635.67. The trade was a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 274,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $108.94. The company had a trading volume of 689,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,139,923. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.47 and a 52-week high of $111.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $106.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.82. The stock has a market cap of $34.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.44.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group's revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.8975 dividend. This represents a $3.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio is 73.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded WEC Energy Group from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.38.

WEC Energy Group 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.