Insider Selling: WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) CEO Sells 6,720 Shares of Stock

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.2 %

WEC stock opened at $101.55 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $32.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50-day moving average is $96.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.14. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $101.68.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 81.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after purchasing an additional 25,975,652 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,453,000 after buying an additional 105,580 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,794,000 after buying an additional 4,691,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 36.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,328,000 after acquiring an additional 688,812 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

About WEC Energy Group

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.