WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Holdings Boosted by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,264 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $7,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 16.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,820,000 after acquiring an additional 2,417 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 41.3% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,925,000 after acquiring an additional 7,841 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 7.3% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 44,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 477.4% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 333,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,756,000 after acquiring an additional 275,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 8.8% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 58,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,082,000 after buying an additional 4,730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 8,089 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.70, for a total transaction of $895,452.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 66,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,394,870.70. The trade was a 10.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.60, for a total value of $166,170.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,353,998.60. The trade was a 6.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 42,354 shares of company stock worth $4,855,505 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Mizuho lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.73.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC opened at $115.80 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $115.46 and its 200-day moving average is $111.93. The stock has a market cap of $37.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $100.61 and a twelve month high of $119.62.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 15.90%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.9525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 78.88%.

WEC Energy Group Company 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.