WEC Energy Group, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.84 (NYSE:WEC)

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

WEC Energy Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years. WEC Energy Group has a dividend payout ratio of 63.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.57 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:WEC traded down $0.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $102.02. The stock had a trading volume of 157,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,116,545. The company has a market cap of $32.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.55. WEC Energy Group has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WEC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $4,866,579 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% 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.