WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Upgraded by Barclays to “Equal Weight” Rating

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) was upgraded by stock analysts at Barclays from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $93.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $89.00. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 1.11% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $94.04 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $97.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.77. WEC Energy Group has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.75 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % 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 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $462,276,000 after buying an additional 699,177 shares during the period. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $224,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 518.8% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 431,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,463,000 after purchasing an additional 361,434 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 56.6% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 6,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.