T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Purchases 8,009 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 8,009 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $4,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 134.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,047,753 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,038,931,000 after purchasing an additional 6,329,574 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,063,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $756,423,000 after acquiring an additional 110,802 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $462,276,000 after buying an additional 699,177 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,212,188 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $396,114,000 after acquiring an additional 309,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,863,782 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $363,350,000 after purchasing an additional 87,711 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $108.76. 1,623,930 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,140,171. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.47 and a 1-year high of $111.00. The company has a market cap of $34.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $106.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.93.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.8975 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.59 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.91%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 274,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 21,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,286,635.67. The trade was a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company 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.