WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.95 Per Share

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of 0.9525 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, March 1st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is a 6.7% increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89.

WEC Energy Group has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. WEC Energy Group has a dividend payout ratio of 68.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.81 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 68.3%.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC opened at $112.95 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.58. WEC Energy Group has a 52-week low of $100.20 and a 52-week high of $118.18.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.13.

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.