WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $120.0667.

WEC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $127.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of WEC opened at $114.03 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $107.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.58. WEC Energy Group has a 1-year low of $100.61 and a 1-year high of $118.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 15.90%.WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. Analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.70, for a total transaction of $895,452.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 66,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,394,870.70. This represents a 10.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 4.9% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 171,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,683,000 after buying an additional 7,970 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 131,363 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,053,000 after acquiring an additional 45,477 shares during the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 59,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,820,000 after purchasing an additional 15,926 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 419,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,079,000 after purchasing an additional 49,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Associated Banc Corp boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 64.0% in the 3rd quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 39,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,507,000 after purchasing an additional 15,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

About WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.