BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Stock Price

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) had its target price upped by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $95.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would suggest a potential downside of 0.70% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.56.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.5 %

WEC stock traded up $1.49 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $100.71. The company had a trading volume of 387,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,102,518. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. WEC Energy Group has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $96.62 and a 200 day moving average of $94.89. The company has a market cap of $31.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.49.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 14,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in WEC Energy Group by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 2,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by 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.