North Star Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

North Star Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 2,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 5.7% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,762 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 1,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings cut WEC Energy Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $124.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $126.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $103,468.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,101.04. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock opened at $106.15 on Friday. 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. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.54. The company has a market capitalization of $34.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.47.

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

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.84%.

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.