Insider Selling: WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Director Gale Klappa sold 5,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.55, for a total transaction of $582,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 276,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,237,730. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC stock traded down $1.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $113.95. 353,408 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,426,866. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $108.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.98. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.61 and a 52 week high of $118.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.59.

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

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $121.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $129.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.07.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 175.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,357,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $354,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136,542 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in 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 period. Freestone Grove Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 30,697.3% in the 3rd quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 620,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,111,000 after acquiring an additional 618,550 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 324.1% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 774,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,722,000 after acquiring an additional 592,028 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 160.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 943,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $98,361,000 after acquiring an additional 581,748 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.