Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Buys New Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 10,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,239,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,417 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 41.3% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,925,000 after buying an additional 7,841 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 7.3% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 44,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,616,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 477.4% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 333,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,756,000 after buying an additional 275,786 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 8.8% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 58,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,082,000 after acquiring an additional 4,730 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total transaction of $103,468.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,101.04. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $106.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $112.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.47. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.95 and a 12 month high of $119.91.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results 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. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 16.69%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.9525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $3.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 73.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $122.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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. Mizuho set a $124.00 price objective on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on WEC Energy Group from $126.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.