WEC Energy Group, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.84 (NYSE:WEC)

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

WEC Energy Group has raised its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years. WEC Energy Group has a dividend payout ratio of 63.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 $3.57 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC stock traded down $0.82 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $101.88. 240,177 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,120,052. WEC Energy Group has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The firm has a market cap of $32.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $96.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price 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, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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.