Barclays Increases WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) Price Target to $86.00

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) had its target price upped by research analysts at Barclays from $80.00 to $86.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential downside of 3.32% from the company’s current price.

WEC has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.31.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $88.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $28.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $80.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.76. WEC Energy Group has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $92.23.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 15.85%. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $31,412.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $213,335.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 58.1% during the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 36,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,037,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% during the first quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 6,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.7% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.1% during the first quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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.