Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 49,361 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 340,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 49,361 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.10% of WEC Energy Group worth $35,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,334,401,000 after purchasing an additional 819,627 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP boosted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 30,697.3% in the 3rd quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 620,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,111,000 after purchasing an additional 618,550 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,046,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $349,109,000 after buying an additional 337,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 195.1% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 482,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,864,000 after buying an additional 318,846 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $111.16 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.49 and a 52-week high of $119.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $36.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.61.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.27 earnings per share. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.9525 dividend. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 76.05%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 4,665 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,112.16. This represents a 38.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on WEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on WEC Energy Group from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Argus upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th. Mizuho set a $124.00 target price on WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.13.

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.