WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Given New $90.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) had its price objective trimmed by Scotiabank from $96.00 to $90.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America reissued an underperform rating and set a $78.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered WEC Energy Group from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $86.64.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of WEC opened at $82.81 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $26.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. WEC Energy Group has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $97.78.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 14.98%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total value of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,402,131.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dearborn Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 582,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,022,000 after buying an additional 131,797 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 428,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,059,000 after buying an additional 14,084 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.8% in the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 205,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,552,000 after buying an additional 24,892 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 44,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,855,000. 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.