WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Neutral Rating

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $108.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $106.00.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.56.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC stock opened at $102.86 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $104.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.52. WEC Energy Group has a 1 year low of $77.47 and a 1 year high of $111.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $32.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total transaction of $119,795.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 274,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. The trade was a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 134.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,047,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,038,931,000 after acquiring an additional 6,329,574 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,063,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $756,423,000 after purchasing an additional 110,802 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,722,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $538,112,000 after acquiring an additional 173,006 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after purchasing an additional 699,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,212,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $396,114,000 after buying an additional 309,697 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

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.