The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Invests $25.49 Million in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 218,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $25,486,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 88,557 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,336,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,826,000 after purchasing an additional 52,467 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,641,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $383,995,000 after buying an additional 48,903 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 175.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,357,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $354,093,000 after buying an additional 2,136,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,571,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $297,646,000 after acquiring an additional 7,206 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut WEC Energy Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $122.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 24th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $110.50 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Mizuho set a $124.00 price target on WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold 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 $121.91.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total transaction of $103,468.40. Following the sale, the director owned 19,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,101.04. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $106.29 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.95 and a 12-month high of $119.91. The company has a market cap of $34.64 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $112.36 and a 200 day moving average of $113.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.69% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.9525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.84%.

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.