WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $105.29 and last traded at $104.89, with a volume of 2480352 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $104.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $33.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $98.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.91%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Talaria Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,970,000. LifeWealth Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $200,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,139,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 47,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,468,000 after purchasing an additional 5,289 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $84,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides regulated natural gas and electricity, and renewable and nonregulated renewable energy services in the United States. It operates through Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, and Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure segments.