WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Shares Sold by Credit Agricole S A

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A reduced its stake in WEC Energy Group by 42.0%, now holding 49,432 shares valued at approximately $5.4 million.
• Insider transactions showed significant sales, with Director Ulice Payne, Jr. selling 1,620 shares and EVP Daniel Krueger selling 5,930 shares, resulting in notable decreases in their ownership percentages.
• WEC Energy Group's latest earnings report beat expectations, reporting $0.76 earnings per share and $2.01 billion in revenue, leading to a forecasted EPS of 5.23 for the current year.

Credit Agricole S A reduced its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 42.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,432 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 35,853 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A's holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $5,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 6,829 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 310.7% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 57,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,291,000 after acquiring an additional 43,671 shares during the period. Financial Advisors Network Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 4,552 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 344,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,570,000 after acquiring an additional 53,220 shares during the period. Finally, Qtron Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Qtron Investments LLC now owns 12,555 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEC Energy Group news, EVP Molly A. Mulroy sold 4,030 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.33, for a total value of $444,629.90. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 5,930 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.14, for a total value of $659,060.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $734,190.84. The trade was a 47.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,448 shares of company stock worth $7,581,132 over the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WEC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Scotiabank set a $115.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $106.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $107.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Three 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $106.40.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.5%

WEC Energy Group stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $107.67. 1,239,909 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,212,268. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.89 and a 1 year high of $111.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $34.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $107.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.47.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. The company's 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, sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a $0.8925 dividend. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.39%.

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.