WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.89

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.8925 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84.

WEC Energy Group has raised its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. WEC Energy Group has a dividend payout ratio of 64.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.1%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC Energy Group stock traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $97.72. 1,387,514 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,126,094. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $97.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.74. WEC Energy Group has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm’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 firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WEC. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,204,570.88. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.