Wall Street Zen Upgrades WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) to “Hold”

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WEC. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $110.50 to $108.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $117.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $114.00 to $113.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.88.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $117.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.43. WEC Energy Group has a fifty-two week low of $99.80 and a fifty-two week high of $120.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average is $107.08 and its 200-day moving average is $111.70.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.21. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.54% and a return on equity of 13.49%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 5.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,734,979 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,133,000 after acquiring an additional 111,057 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at about $299,100,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,571,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $297,646,000 after purchasing an additional 7,206 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,644,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $192,007,000 after purchasing an additional 78,168 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,286,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $148,906,000 after purchasing an additional 42,403 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

WEC Energy Group is a regulated energy holding company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through its subsidiaries, it generates, transmits and distributes electricity and provides natural gas service to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

The company’s utility operations serve communities across Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota. Its businesses include electric and gas utilities, as well as natural gas storage and related energy services.

WEC Energy Group adopted its current name in 2015, following the combination of Wisconsin Energy Corporation and Integrys Energy Group.