Hsbc Holdings PLC Takes $72.30 Million Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 617,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $72,303,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.19% of WEC Energy Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 113.9% during the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 972.7% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WEC. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $126.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $124.00 price target on WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $103,468.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,588 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,101.04. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $107.69 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.63. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.95 and a 12 month high of $119.91. The company has a market cap of $35.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 16.69%.The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.9525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 73.84%.

About WEC Energy Group

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.