WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Price Target Increased to $90.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $88.00 to $90.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on WEC. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. KeyCorp dropped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $89.77.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $92.79 on Thursday. WEC Energy Group has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $93.78. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $29.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.41.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,876 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,932.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,932.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at $716,208.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,462 shares of company stock valued at $776,608 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth about $983,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 316,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,391,000 after acquiring an additional 19,867 shares during the period. Alley Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 324.5% during the fourth quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 39,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 30,009 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 37,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,162,000 after purchasing an additional 9,526 shares during the period. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 324.9% in the first quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 21,758 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides regulated natural gas and electricity, and renewable and nonregulated renewable energy services in the United States. It operates through Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, and Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure segments.