WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $96.91.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WEC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’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 value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,193,000 after buying an additional 4,205 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth approximately $1,392,000. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 51.0% in the third quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 10,126 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 62,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,047,000 after purchasing an additional 7,646 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 2,949.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 232,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,204,000 after purchasing an additional 224,410 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.1 %

WEC stock opened at $95.74 on Friday. WEC Energy Group has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The company has a market capitalization of $30.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.46. 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 (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.8925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

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.