WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.84

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th.

WEC Energy Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years. WEC Energy Group has a payout ratio of 63.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.57 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC stock opened at $101.54 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.55. The company has a market capitalization of $32.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. WEC Energy Group has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

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.