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

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%.

WEC Energy Group has raised its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 23 years. WEC Energy Group has a payout ratio of 63.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.24 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.57 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 68.1%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE WEC traded up $2.89 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $98.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,646,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,757,621. WEC Energy Group has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $102.79. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WEC shares. Bank of America raised WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.40.

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.