Westpac Banking Corp Makes New Investment in WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $837,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 195.1% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 482,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,864,000 after acquiring an additional 318,846 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,155,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 8.6% in the second quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 121,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,179,000 after purchasing an additional 9,591 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 106.3% in the first quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 44,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,099,000 after purchasing an additional 22,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 698,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,356,000 after purchasing an additional 62,243 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $103,468.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,101.04. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $126.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $122.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $124.00 price target on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.91.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $106.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.47. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.95 and a fifty-two week high of $119.91. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $112.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.53.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. WEC Energy Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.510-5.610 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

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

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.