BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Stock Price

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) had its price target lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $97.00 to $104.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price indicates a potential upside of 5.90% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on WEC. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.45.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $98.21 on Monday. WEC Energy Group has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $102.79. The stock has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.68.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 690,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,450,000 after acquiring an additional 6,583 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 56.6% during the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 6,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $426,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 238.4% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 12,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after buying an additional 8,751 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

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.