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

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.835 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, December 1st. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th.

WEC Energy Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. WEC Energy Group has a dividend payout ratio of 64.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect WEC Energy Group to earn $5.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.3 %

WEC opened at $98.13 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $96.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.03. 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 fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $100.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.44.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $557,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at $716,208.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total value of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,712.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $557,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,208.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

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.