WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.1250.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 24th. Mizuho set a $124.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $111.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $119.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $114.15 on Thursday. WEC Energy Group has a 52-week low of $102.49 and a 52-week high of $119.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.15. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $0.9525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 4,665 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.96, for a total value of $517,628.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 7,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,112.16. This represents a 38.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,334,401,000 after purchasing an additional 819,627 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,838,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $928,653,000 after acquiring an additional 88,557 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,336,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,826,000 after acquiring an additional 52,467 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,136,542 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

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.