WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Receives $95.55 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $96.18.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.0 %

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $97.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. WEC Energy Group has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $102.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $97.69 and a 200 day moving average of $90.09.

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 business had revenue of $1.86 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.8925 per share. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % 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 worth $4,866,579 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,453,000 after purchasing an additional 105,580 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% during the third 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 102.6% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,328,000 after buying an additional 688,812 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.