Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 7,682 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 389,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,682 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $44,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,945,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,162,348,000 after purchasing an additional 816,243 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 324.1% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 774,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,722,000 after purchasing an additional 592,028 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 160.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 943,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $98,361,000 after purchasing an additional 581,748 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth approximately $57,028,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth approximately $40,362,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 2,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.50, for a total transaction of $325,132.50. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 4,707 shares in the company, valued at $543,658.50. The trade was a 37.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.55, for a total transaction of $582,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 276,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,237,730. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,354 shares of company stock worth $4,855,505. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $117.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Bank of America set a $116.00 price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.67.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $115.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $111.17 and a 200 day moving average of $110.62. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.61 and a 52 week high of $118.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.