Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Has $2.28 Million Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 19.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,926 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,280,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,615,722,000 after purchasing an additional 334,563 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,594,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $892,020,000 after buying an additional 235,653 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 12.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,046,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $349,109,000 after buying an additional 337,300 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 6.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,609,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $271,941,000 after acquiring an additional 162,963 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 9.6% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,589,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $296,780,000 after acquiring an additional 226,894 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WEC. Argus raised shares of WEC Energy Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America set a $116.00 target price on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.07.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $115.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.21. The company has a market cap of $37.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.58. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.61 and a 52-week high of $118.18.

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

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $0.9525 dividend. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 2,815 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.50, for a total value of $325,132.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 4,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,658.50. This trade represents a 37.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.44, for a total transaction of $2,886,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 276,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,930,704. The trade was a 8.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 42,354 shares of company stock valued at $4,855,505 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% 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.