WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Price Target Cut to $90.00

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Scotiabank from $96.00 to $90.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.80% from the company’s previous close.

WEC has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $79.00 to $75.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.64.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $81.97 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $25.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.41. WEC Energy Group has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $98.80.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,622,595.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,402,131.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at $21,622,595.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dearborn Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 582,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,022,000 after buying an additional 131,797 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 428,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,059,000 after purchasing an additional 14,084 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.8% in the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 205,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,552,000 after purchasing an additional 24,892 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.3% in the third quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 44,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,855,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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.