WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $98.00 to $103.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. WEC Energy Group traded as high as $96.94 and last traded at $96.85, with a volume of 539884 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $96.18.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on WEC. Scotiabank increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at $340,712.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $340,712.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $120,918.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,796.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vantage Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 1,547 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 241,531 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,331,000 after purchasing an additional 11,709 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth about $399,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 109.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 107,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,033,000 after buying an additional 55,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,101,000 after buying an additional 3,283 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.55. The company has a market capitalization of $30.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.93%.

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.