Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 47,885 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 878,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 47,885 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned 0.27% of WEC Energy Group worth $100,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,417 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 41.3% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,925,000 after buying an additional 7,841 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 8.5% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 9,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at about $223,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted 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 note on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America set a $116.00 price target on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 8,089 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.70, for a total transaction of $895,452.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 66,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,394,870.70. The trade was a 10.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.60, for a total transaction of $166,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,353,998.60. This represents a 6.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 42,354 shares of company stock worth $4,855,505 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE WEC opened at $116.88 on Monday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.61 and a 1 year high of $118.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $38.05 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $109.85 and a 200 day moving average of $110.26.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. The company’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. Research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $0.9525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 78.88%.

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.