Citigroup Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Citigroup Inc. reduced its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 98.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 322,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 20,733,570 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.10% of WEC Energy Group worth $36,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 265.8% in the 2nd quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 60.5% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Bank of America set a $116.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.07.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.1%

WEC stock opened at $115.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.61 and a 1-year high of $118.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.13. The company has a market capitalization of $37.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.88%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 8,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.70, for a total transaction of $895,452.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 66,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,394,870.70. This represents a 10.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 5,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.55, for a total value of $582,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 276,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,237,730. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 40,904 shares of company stock valued at $4,689,335 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Profile

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.