WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Receives $91.31 Average Price Target from Brokerages

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $91.69.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $120,918.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $129,796.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,932.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $120,918.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares in the company, valued at $129,796.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 324.5% during the 4th quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 39,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 30,009 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 37,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,162,000 after purchasing an additional 9,526 shares during the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 324.9% during the 1st quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 21,758 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 38,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,282,000 after buying an additional 5,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 789.0% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 125,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,283,000 after buying an additional 111,134 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $96.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $30.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.55. WEC Energy Group has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $96.65.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.93%.

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.