Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 825,180 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 4,035 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.26% of WEC Energy Group worth $89,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 3,828.6% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 275 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 252.6% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 342 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank set a $115.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $106.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $106.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $106.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 2,155 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.77, for a total transaction of $232,244.35. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $289,470.22. This represents a 44.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE WEC opened at $103.09 on Monday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.47 and a 12 month high of $111.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $32.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.45. The company's fifty day moving average price is $106.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.27.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.81 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.95% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm's revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.8975 per share. This represents a $3.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio is 69.59%.

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.

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