WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $95.00 to $98.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. WEC Energy Group traded as high as $96.54 and last traded at $96.20, with a volume of 54064 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $95.85.

WEC has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,335.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $340,712.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $213,335.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,702 shares of company stock worth $1,078,058. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $127,945,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 763.5% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,332,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,270 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,665,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,146,000 after purchasing an additional 803,718 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,328,000 after purchasing an additional 688,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 36.0% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,748,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $143,557,000 after buying an additional 462,646 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $30.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.44. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.54.

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

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 72.93%.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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.