ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 174 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 174 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WEC. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $81,000. Stablepoint Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 75.7% during the 1st quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 11,884 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,295,000 after buying an additional 5,121 shares during the period. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 2,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 1st quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on WEC shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $106.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.30.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock opened at $113.24 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.94 and a twelve month high of $114.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.47.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 5,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.14, for a total value of $659,060.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $734,190.84. The trade was a 47.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Anthony Reese sold 4,177 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.30, for a total transaction of $460,723.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 1,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $193,797.10. The trade was a 70.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,448 shares of company stock worth $7,581,132. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About WEC Energy Group

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.