Scotiabank Expects Reduced Earnings for WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) – Equities research analysts at Scotiabank reduced their FY2024 earnings estimates for WEC Energy Group in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst A. Weisel now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $4.87 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $4.90. Scotiabank currently has a “Sector Outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for WEC Energy Group’s current full-year earnings is $4.89 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for WEC Energy Group’s FY2026 earnings at $5.59 EPS.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on WEC. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $94.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65. WEC Energy Group has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year high of $102.79. The company has a market cap of $29.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $96.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.32.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.8925 per share. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.29%.

About WEC Energy Group

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.