WEC Energy Group, Inc. (WEC) to Distribute Quarterly Dividend of $0.84 on March 1st

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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% per year over the last three years. WEC Energy Group has a payout ratio of 63.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Down 0.8 %

NYSE WEC traded down $0.82 on Wednesday, hitting $101.88. The stock had a trading volume of 240,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,120,052. WEC Energy Group has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $32.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $96.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.55.

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

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents 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 worth $4,866,579 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WEC shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.