WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.77% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.31.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of WEC stock traded down $1.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $93.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,141,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,159,943. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. WEC Energy Group has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $96.65. The stock has a market cap of $29.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.75.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other WEC Energy Group news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,208.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total transaction of $120,918.36. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $129,796.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Alley Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 324.5% in the 4th quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 39,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,304,000 after buying an additional 30,009 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 9,526 shares during the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 21,758 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 38,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,282,000 after acquiring an additional 5,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 789.0% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 125,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,283,000 after purchasing an additional 111,134 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.