WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Shares Purchased by Energy Income Partners LLC

Key Points

• Energy Income Partners increased its WEC Energy Group stake by 3% in the first quarter, buying 22,651 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 765,610 shares valued at approximately $88.6 million.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with WEC receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $123.20, despite some recent target-price reductions.
• WEC reported quarterly earnings of $2.45 per share, exceeding estimates, while revenue rose 9% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.9525 per share, representing a 3.3% annualized yield.

Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 765,610 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,651 shares during the period. WEC Energy Group comprises about 1.4% of Energy Income Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Energy Income Partners LLC owned 0.24% of WEC Energy Group worth $88,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 175.0% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,334,401,000 after buying an additional 819,627 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 30,697.3% during the 3rd quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 620,565 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $71,111,000 after buying an additional 618,550 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 324.1% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 774,679 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $80,722,000 after buying an additional 592,028 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 603.1% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 414,028 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,664,000 after buying an additional 355,144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Mizuho set a $124.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $126.00 to $117.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $123.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 4,665 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $815,112.16. This represents a 38.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE WEC opened at $113.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $113.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.60. The company has a market cap of $37.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.47. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $102.95 and a 1-year high of $119.91.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.45 EPS 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group's payout ratio is 76.05%.

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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