Verity & Verity LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 133,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,762 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $14,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,334,401,000 after buying an additional 819,627 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,838,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $928,653,000 after purchasing an additional 88,557 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 12.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,046,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $349,109,000 after purchasing an additional 337,300 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,697,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,078,000 after purchasing an additional 87,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 9.6% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,589,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $296,780,000 after purchasing an additional 226,894 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.5%

WEC opened at $111.07 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $102.49 and a one year high of $119.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $114.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.68.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.15. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 76.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEC Energy Group news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 4,665 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.96, for a total transaction of $517,628.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 7,346 shares in the company, valued at $815,112.16. This represents a 38.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $119.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $127.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. KeyCorp upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $111.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.13.

WEC Energy Group Profile

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.