Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC)

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) in a research report report published on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $102.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on WEC. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $91.31.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.0 %

WEC opened at $94.72 on Thursday. WEC Energy Group has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $96.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.97. The firm has a market cap of $29.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.44.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.93%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total transaction of $120,918.36. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,462 shares in the company, valued at $129,796.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $120,918.36. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,796.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,377 shares in the company, valued at $213,335.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% during the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.