WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Price Target Raised to $104.00 at BMO Capital Markets

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $97.00 to $104.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 4.12% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on WEC. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated 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. KeyCorp upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.45.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 1.2 %

WEC Energy Group stock traded down $1.17 during trading on Monday, hitting $99.88. The company had a trading volume of 373,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,128,996. The stock has a market cap of $31.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. WEC Energy Group has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.49.

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

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s 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. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Czech National Bank grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 7.0% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,193,000 after buying an additional 4,205 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth $1,392,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 2,949.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 232,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,204,000 after purchasing an additional 224,410 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 13.8% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 62,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,047,000 after purchasing an additional 7,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 35.0% in the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 29,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after buying an additional 7,640 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% 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.