WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Short Interest Up 27.8% in June

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,970,000 shares, an increase of 27.8% from the May 31st total of 7,020,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEC Energy Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 49.4% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 76.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 28,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after buying an additional 12,471 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 359.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,453,000 after buying an additional 90,062 shares in the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.7% in the first quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 35,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,952,000 after buying an additional 1,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.1% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 98,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,063,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WEC has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $77.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.03. The company has a market cap of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.41. WEC Energy Group has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $93.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.07. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 16.67%. The business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 72.93%.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

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.