Ulice Payne, Jr. Sells 1,450 Shares of WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Stock

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.60, for a total transaction of $166,170.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,541 shares in the company, valued at $2,353,998.60. The trade was a 6.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.2%

WEC stock opened at $115.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $109.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.21. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.61 and a 12 month high of $118.18. The company has a market cap of $37.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.58.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 15.90%.The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,417 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 41.3% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,925,000 after buying an additional 7,841 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at $212,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 42,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,402,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WEC shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Argus upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $121.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.07.

About WEC Energy Group

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.