Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 2,561,444 WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,561,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $299,100,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 175.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,357,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $354,093,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136,542 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the second quarter valued at about $144,582,000. Energy Income Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at about $97,564,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,099,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,334,401,000 after purchasing an additional 819,627 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter worth about $95,395,000. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of WEC opened at $106.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.47. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $102.95 and a one year high of $119.91. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 16.69% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.9525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 73.84%.

Insider Activity

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $103,468.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,101.04. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $110.50 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Mizuho set a $124.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.91.

WEC Energy Group 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.