Westpac Banking Corp Takes Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $837,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 195.1% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 482,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,864,000 after buying an additional 318,846 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,155,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 121,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,179,000 after acquiring an additional 9,591 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 106.3% in the 1st quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 44,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,099,000 after acquiring an additional 22,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 698,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,356,000 after acquiring an additional 62,243 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on WEC. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $110.50 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $122.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 24th. Mizuho set a $124.00 price target on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.91.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total transaction of $103,468.40. Following the sale, the director owned 19,588 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,101.04. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC opened at $106.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.65 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $112.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.71. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.95 and a 1 year high of $119.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.69% and a return on equity of 12.90%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.84%.

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.