WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $121.9062.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $124.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. KeyCorp decreased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $126.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered WEC Energy Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $106.15 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $34.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $112.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.54. WEC Energy Group has a 1-year low of $102.95 and a 1-year high of $119.91.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.69% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.9525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 73.84%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $103,468.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,588 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,101.04. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 11,738.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,289,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,171,667,000 after acquiring an additional 43,915,218 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,334,401,000 after purchasing an additional 819,627 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,838,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $928,653,000 after purchasing an additional 88,557 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,336,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $562,826,000 after purchasing an additional 52,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,641,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $383,995,000 after purchasing an additional 48,903 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.