WEC Energy Group, Inc. (WEC) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 13th

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, June 1st. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 13th.

WEC Energy Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 22 years. WEC Energy Group has a payout ratio of 63.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $81.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.34. WEC Energy Group has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $98.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,402,131.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,805,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $643,696,000 after buying an additional 69,710 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,863,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,188,000 after buying an additional 20,435 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,623,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $304,993,000 after buying an additional 536,684 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,236,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $303,446,000 after buying an additional 277,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,505,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $250,098,000 after acquiring an additional 83,354 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WEC. StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.38.

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.