Insider Selling: WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Director Sells 1,150 Shares of Stock

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total transaction of $119,795.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,286,635.67. This represents a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

NYSE:WEC traded up $1.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $106.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,849,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,542. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $76.50 and a one year high of $106.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 73.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 47,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,468,000 after purchasing an additional 5,289 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $84,000. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 15,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,487,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the period. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 21,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.88.

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.