Wisconsin Energy Corp (NYSE:WEC) was downgraded by research analysts at Goldman Sachs from a “conviction-buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They presently have a $56.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $54.00. Goldman Sachs’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 3.97% from the company’s previous close.

Several hedge funds recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Beacon Capital Management boosted its stake in Wisconsin Energy Corp by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management now owns 5 shares of the company’s stock worth $0 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Company boosted its stake in Wisconsin Energy Corp by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Coastline Trust Company now owns 5,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank boosted its stake in Wisconsin Energy Corp by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank now owns 6,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Tompkins Financial boosted its stake in Wisconsin Energy Corp by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Tompkins Financial now owns 6,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of The West boosted its stake in Wisconsin Energy Corp by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of The West now owns 6,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter.

Wisconsin Energy Corp (NYSE:WEC) traded up 0.04% on Wednesday, hitting $53.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,103,437 shares. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.55 and its 200-day moving average is $50.30. Wisconsin Energy Corp has a 1-year low of $44.93 and a 1-year high of $58.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.01 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17.

Wisconsin Energy Corp (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.02. The business earned $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 64.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Wisconsin Energy Corp will post $2.72 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.495 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 10th. This is an increase from Wisconsin Energy Corp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Wisconsin Energy Corp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Monday, December 14th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Wisconsin Energy Corp from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Wisconsin Energy Corp from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 4th. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Wisconsin Energy Corp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo cut shares of Wisconsin Energy Corp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.33.

In other Wisconsin Energy Corp news, President Allen L. Leverett sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $807,360.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 53,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,690,426.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gale E. Klappa sold 21,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.80, for a total transaction of $1,128,722.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,416,412.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

WEC Energy Group,Inc., formerly Wisconsin Energy Corporation is a holding company. The Company operates through two segments: utility energy segment and non-utility energy segment. Its utility energy segment consists of Wisconsin Electric and Wisconsin Gas, operating together under the trade name of We Energies. Its non-utility energy segment consists of We Power, which owns and leases to Wisconsin Electric generation plants constructed as part of its Power the Future (NYSE:WEC) strategy. Its other non-utility operations consist of the operations of its subsidiaries, Wispark LLC and Bostco LLC. Its principal utilities include Wisconsin Public Service, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, Michigan Gas Utilities and Minnesota Energy Resources, among others. Its primary subsidiaries are Wisconsin Electric Power Company (Wisconsin Electric), Wisconsin Gas LLC (Wisconsin Gas), W.E. Power, LLC (We Power), Integrys Energy Group, Inc. and Integrys Holding, Inc., among others.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:WEC

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