Gale Klappa Sells 25,000 Shares of WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Stock

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Director Gale Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.44, for a total transaction of $2,886,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 276,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,930,704. This represents a 8.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

NYSE WEC opened at $114.25 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.61 and a fifty-two week high of $118.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $108.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.03. The firm has a market cap of $37.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.58. 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 (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 15.90%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on WEC. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Argus raised WEC Energy Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Bank of America set a $116.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.07.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,334,401,000 after buying an additional 819,627 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,838,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $928,653,000 after acquiring an additional 88,557 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,336,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,826,000 after acquiring an additional 52,467 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,641,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $383,995,000 after purchasing an additional 48,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 175.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,357,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $354,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136,542 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About WEC Energy Group

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.