WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.89 Per Share

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.8925 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84.

WEC Energy Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. WEC Energy Group has a dividend payout ratio of 64.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 63.9%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.6 %

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $97.09 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $102.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. 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 research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.