BidaskClub cut shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, August 1st.
A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WEC. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) reaffirmed a sell rating and set a $58.00 price objective (down from $59.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Monday, June 26th. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, June 9th. Wolfe Research reissued a peer perform rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Monday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $62.86.
Shares of WEC Energy Group (NYSE WEC) opened at 64.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 0.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.51 and a 200 day moving average of $60.95. WEC Energy Group has a 52-week low of $53.66 and a 52-week high of $64.94.
WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.05. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 12.72% and a return on equity of 10.75%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post $3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.42%.
In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Susan H. Martin sold 15,470 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.50, for a total transaction of $966,875.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,167,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,950,302,000 after buying an additional 1,085,646 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,921,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,591,055,000 after buying an additional 82,376 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,286,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $987,428,000 after buying an additional 200,586 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.8% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,762,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $353,718,000 after buying an additional 103,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 6.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,169,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $313,418,000 after buying an additional 304,020 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.72% of the company’s stock.
WEC Energy Group Company Profile
WEC Energy Group, Inc was a diversified holding company with natural gas and electric utility operations, an approximately 60% equity ownership interest in American Transmission Company LLC, and non-utility electric operations through its We Power business, as of December 31, 2016. Its segments include Wisconsin; Illinois; Other States; Electric Transmission; We Power, and Corporate and Other.
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