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

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 3.39%.

WEC Energy Group has increased its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 23 years. WEC Energy Group has a payout ratio of 63.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.24 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 68.1%.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC Energy Group stock traded up $2.89 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $98.46. The stock had a trading volume of 1,646,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,757,621. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. WEC Energy Group has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $96.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.86.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WEC shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.