Bank of America Upgrades WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) to “Neutral”

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) was upgraded by stock analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $98.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $90.00. Bank of America‘s price target points to a potential upside of 2.34% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given 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 a consensus target price of $96.91.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.1 %

WEC stock opened at $95.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $97.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.28. WEC Energy Group has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $102.79. The company has a market cap of $30.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.46.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,500,680,000 after purchasing an additional 25,975,652 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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. grew its stake 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 valued at $201,328,000 after acquiring an additional 688,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

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.