Heartland Bank & Trust Co Makes New Investment in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5,040.6% in the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 32,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,415,000 after purchasing an additional 31,756 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 195.1% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 482,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,864,000 after purchasing an additional 318,846 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter worth $1,155,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 121,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,179,000 after purchasing an additional 9,591 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 106.3% during the first quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 44,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,099,000 after purchasing an additional 22,697 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on WEC shares. Truist Financial cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $122.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut WEC Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $110.50 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $124.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.91.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $103,468.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,101.04. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $106.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $112.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.71. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.95 and a fifty-two week high of $119.91. The firm has a market cap of $34.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.47.

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

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 73.84%.

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.