WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Hits New 12-Month High at $93.66

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $93.66 and last traded at $93.62, with a volume of 265074 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $92.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WEC. Barclays raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.77.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.57 and a 200-day moving average of $82.07. The company has a market cap of $29.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.41. 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 (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 72.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total value of $66,337.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,932.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,462 shares of company stock valued at $776,608 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 58.1% during the 2nd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

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.