WEC Energy Group Inc. (WEC) Releases FY16 Earnings Guidance

WEC Energy Group Inc. (NYSE:WEC) updated its FY16 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $2.88-2.94 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $2.93. WEC Energy Group also updated its Q3 guidance to $0.55-0.59 EPS.

Separately, Deutsche Bank AG reiterated a hold rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Tuesday, April 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $57.25.

Shares of WEC Energy Group Inc. (NYSE:WEC) traded down 1.05% on Wednesday, reaching $63.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,593,589 shares. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.93 and its 200-day moving average is $59.20. WEC Energy Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.23 and a 1-year high of $66.10. The firm has a market cap of $20.20 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 27th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.02. The business earned $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 61.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group Inc. will post $2.93 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.495 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 10th. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%.

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 9,372 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.16, for a total transaction of $563,819.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 157,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,488,375.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan H. Martin sold 9,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.89, for a total value of $594,108.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,070,114.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

WEC Energy Group, Inc, formerly Wisconsin Energy Corporation, is a holding company, which has electric and natural gas utility operations. The Company’s segments are Wisconsin, Illinois, other states, electric transmission, We Power, and corporate and other. The Company’s Wisconsin segment includes the electric and natural gas utility, and non-utility operations of Wisconsin Electric Power Company (Wisconsin Electric), Wisconsin Gas LLC (Wisconsin Gas) and Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS), including Wisconsin Electric’s electric and WPS’s electric and natural gas operations in the state of Michigan.