Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC decreased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 177,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 32,201 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $20,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on WEC Energy Group in a report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. UBS Group set a $116.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $129.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.64.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $105.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.85 and a fifty-two week high of $118.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $108.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.10. The firm has a market cap of $34.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.58.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.75%.The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.170-5.270 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 67.49%.

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.