Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies WEC Energy Group's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 18 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Recent sales by insiders

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Every investor in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 83% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

No shareholder likes losing money on their investments, especially institutional investors who saw their holdings drop 5.5% in value last week. However, the 30% one-year returns may have helped alleviate their overall losses. They should, however, be mindful of further losses in the future.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of WEC Energy Group, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for WEC Energy Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About WEC Energy Group?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in WEC Energy Group. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see WEC Energy Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. WEC Energy Group is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc., with ownership of 12%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 9.5% and 6.7% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 18 have the combined ownership of 51% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of WEC Energy Group

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of WEC Energy Group, Inc.. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own US$56m of stock. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 17% stake in WEC Energy Group. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand WEC Energy Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for WEC Energy Group (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future .

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.