WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $95.55.

WEC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. 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 report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $97.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65. WEC Energy Group has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79. The firm has a market cap of $30.71 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $97.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.92.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.8925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,453,000 after buying an additional 105,580 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $453,794,000 after buying an additional 4,691,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,971,000 after buying an additional 1,912,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,328,000 after buying an additional 688,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

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.