WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Receives $86.17 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.17.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho dropped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 18th. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock opened at $81.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.44. WEC Energy Group has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $99.15.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total transaction of $223,258.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WEC. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 1st quarter valued at $64,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 19.9% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 6,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 8.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 848,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,682,000 after acquiring an additional 65,287 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 10.2% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 34,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,461,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 11.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $875,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. 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.