WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Shares Acquired by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the first quarter worth approximately $403,372,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 12,777.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,834,024 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $199,872,000 after acquiring an additional 1,819,782 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 34.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,213,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $567,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349,522 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 16.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,103,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $556,191,000 after purchasing an additional 726,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1,529.3% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 709,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,290,000 after purchasing an additional 665,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

NYSE WEC opened at $109.19 on Thursday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.94 and a 1 year high of $111.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $108.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.55.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.87%.The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.170-5.270 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.8925 per share. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Molly A. Mulroy sold 4,030 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.33, for a total value of $444,629.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,113.57. This represents a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.73, for a total transaction of $3,875,550.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 274,969 shares in the company, valued at $30,447,317.37. The trade was a 11.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,448 shares of company stock worth $7,581,132. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WEC. UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $106.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.40.

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.