Magellan Asset Management Ltd Purchases Shares of 1,238,180 WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,238,180 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $144,582,000. WEC Energy Group comprises approximately 3.2% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned 0.38% of WEC Energy Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,417 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 41.3% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,839 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,925,000 after purchasing an additional 7,841 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 44,286 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,616,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 477.4% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 333,552 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $34,756,000 after buying an additional 275,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 58,364 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,082,000 after buying an additional 4,730 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on WEC shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Mizuho set a $124.00 target price on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $110.50 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $122.00 to $114.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $121.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $103,468.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,068,101.04. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $106.33 on Monday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.95 and a 52-week high of $119.91. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $112.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.47.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.69% and a return on equity of 12.90%. WEC Energy Group's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. 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 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.84%.

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.

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