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

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be given a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, September 1st. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 14th.

WEC Energy Group has increased its dividend by an average of 7.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. WEC Energy Group has a payout ratio of 64.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.1%.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $88.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.01. The company has a market cap of $28.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.41. WEC Energy Group has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $92.23.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WEC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.31.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total value of $66,337.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,932.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total transaction of $120,918.36. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,796.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total value of $66,337.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,932.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,462 shares of company stock valued at $218,668. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.