Scotiabank Has Pessimistic Outlook of WEC FY2024 Earnings

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) – Equities research analysts at Scotiabank reduced their FY2024 earnings estimates for WEC Energy Group in a research note issued on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst A. Weisel now expects that the utilities provider will earn $4.87 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $4.90. Scotiabank currently has a “Sector Outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for WEC Energy Group’s current full-year earnings is $4.89 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for WEC Energy Group’s FY2026 earnings at $5.59 EPS.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also commented on WEC. Jefferies Financial Group started 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 target for the company. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE WEC opened at $93.43 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $29.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $96.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.51. WEC Energy Group has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $102.79.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.8925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 87.29%.

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.