Legal & General Group Plc Sells 18,189 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its WEC Energy Group stake slightly in the fourth quarter, selling 18,189 shares and leaving it with 2,679,059 shares valued at about $282.5 million.
• WEC reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $2.45 versus $2.30 expected and revenue of $3.43 billion, with revenue up 9% year over year.
• The utility declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9525 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of about 3.4%, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average price target of $122.13.

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,679,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 18,189 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.82% of WEC Energy Group worth $282,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2,400.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 275 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 256.4% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 278 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 294 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WEC shares. Wall Street Zen cut WEC Energy Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $111.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Argus upgraded WEC Energy Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $121.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $122.13.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $113.16 on Wednesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.49 and a 12-month high of $119.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.50.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.15. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio is 76.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 4,665 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.96, for a total transaction of $517,628.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 7,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,112.16. This represents a 38.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% 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.

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