USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 33,800 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in WEC Energy Group by 66%, selling 33,800 shares and leaving them with 17,378 shares valued at approximately $1.89 million.
• Insider trading activity includes VP Anthony Reese selling 4,177 shares and CEO Scott J. Lauber selling 9,231 shares, indicating significant decreases in their ownership percentages.
• Brokerages have lowered their ratings for WEC Energy Group, with Wall Street Zen and Goldman Sachs both issuing "sell" ratings, while the consensus target price remains at $106.40.

USS Investment Management Ltd lowered its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 66.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,378 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 33,800 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the first 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. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their target price for the company from $106.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $106.40.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:WEC traded up $0.80 on Friday, hitting $110.52. 1,532,663 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,936,969. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.94 and a 12 month high of $111.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.44. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $107.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.05. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.87%.The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.170-5.270 EPS. Analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued a $0.8925 dividend. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group's payout ratio is presently 68.39%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, EVP Molly A. Mulroy sold 4,030 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.33, for a total value of $444,629.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,829 shares in the company, valued at $643,113.57. The trade was a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,620 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total value of $179,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,259,960. The trade was a 7.37% 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 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.