Wellington Management Group LLP Has $1.10 Billion Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP has reduced its stake in WEC Energy Group by 8.2%, holding 10,137,896 shares valued at approximately $1.10 billion as of its latest SEC filing.
• A number of institutional investors, including Korea Investment CORP and Qtron Investments LLC, increased their holdings in WEC Energy Group during the first quarter, demonstrating ongoing interest from the investment community.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.8925 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $3.57 and a yield of 3.3%, despite cutting its dividend this year.

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,137,896 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 909,857 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 3.18% of WEC Energy Group worth $1,104,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Korea Investment CORP lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 18.3% during the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 344,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,570,000 after buying an additional 53,220 shares in the last quarter. Qtron Investments LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 20.0% in the first quarter. Qtron Investments LLC now owns 12,555 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares in the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 8.6% in the first quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 12,041 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 952 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group in the first quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 4.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,003,464 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $436,298,000 after purchasing an additional 188,057 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, EVP Molly A. Mulroy sold 4,030 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.33, for a total transaction of $444,629.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,113.57. The trade was a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 5,960 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.98, for a total value of $661,440.80. Following the sale, the director owned 274,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,516,059.62. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,603 shares of company stock valued at $7,813,377. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on WEC shares. Scotiabank set a $115.00 price target on WEC Energy Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on WEC Energy Group and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded WEC Energy Group from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $106.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $106.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $107.39 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $34.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.42. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $89.18 and a 12 month high of $111.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $106.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.15.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.8925 per share. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group's payout ratio is 68.39%.

WEC Energy Group Company 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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