Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,089,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,970 shares during the quarter. WEC Energy Group accounts for approximately 1.9% of Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $114,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after buying an additional 2,417 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 41.3% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,925,000 after buying an additional 7,841 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 44,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,616,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 477.4% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 333,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,756,000 after buying an additional 275,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 58,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,082,000 after buying an additional 4,730 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC opened at $114.63 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.54. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.49 and a 1 year high of $119.62. The firm has a market cap of $37.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.47.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.45 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.27 EPS. WEC Energy Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.05%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, EVP Daniel Krueger sold 4,665 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.96, for a total transaction of $517,628.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 7,346 shares in the company, valued at $815,112.16. This trade represents a 38.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $119.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $127.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Mizuho set a $124.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.13.

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.