WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

Several other research firms also recently commented on WEC. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $87.31.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

NYSE WEC opened at $89.24 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. WEC Energy Group has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $92.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.41.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.85% and a return on equity of 12.26%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.93%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,932.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,932.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total transaction of $120,918.36. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $129,796.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,462 shares of company stock valued at $218,668 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the 2nd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 36,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,037,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 6,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% 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.