WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Director Sells $166,170.00 in Stock

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.60, for a total transaction of $166,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,353,998.60. The trade was a 6.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.6%

WEC stock traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $115.22. The company had a trading volume of 909,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,382,399. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $109.17 and a 200 day moving average of $110.13. The company has a market capitalization of $37.51 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.61 and a 12 month high of $118.18.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,334,401,000 after buying an additional 819,627 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,838,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $928,653,000 after acquiring an additional 88,557 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,336,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,826,000 after buying an additional 52,467 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,641,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $383,995,000 after acquiring an additional 48,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 175.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,357,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $354,093,000 after buying an additional 2,136,542 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on WEC. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $127.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.07.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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.