Sterling Capital Management LLC Acquires 22,697 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 106.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,697 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $5,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 175.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,357,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $354,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136,542 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,334,401,000 after buying an additional 819,627 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 30,697.3% during the third quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 620,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,111,000 after buying an additional 618,550 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 324.1% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 774,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,722,000 after buying an additional 592,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 603.1% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 414,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,664,000 after buying an additional 355,144 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $111.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on WEC Energy Group from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Mizuho set a $124.00 target price on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $119.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.60.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 4,665 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.96, for a total value of $517,628.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,112.16. This represents a 38.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $118.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $113.25 and its 200-day moving average is $112.03. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.49 and a 52-week high of $119.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.68.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.15. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 16.25%.The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 76.05%.

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.