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

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $98.40.

Several research firms recently issued reports on WEC. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on 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. KeyCorp upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WEC opened at $99.27 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $31.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.32. WEC Energy Group has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 81.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 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 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 21,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Mcdonald Partners LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 8,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $814,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.