WEC Energy Group, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.84 (NYSE:WEC)

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th.

WEC Energy Group has raised its dividend by an average of 7.2% per year over the last three years. WEC Energy Group has a payout ratio of 63.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.57 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $101.54 on Wednesday. WEC Energy Group has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $32.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $96.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.55.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WEC shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

About WEC Energy Group

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.