Ann Murtlow Sells 2,847 Shares of Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Stock

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Director Ann Murtlow sold 2,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.34, for a total transaction of $234,421.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,311 shares in the company, valued at $190,287.74. This trade represents a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Evergy Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Evergy stock opened at $82.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $76.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.33. Evergy Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.94 and a 1 year high of $83.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, January 31st. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter. Evergy had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 8.79%. Equities research analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EVRG. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Evergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Mizuho set a $82.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research report on Monday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.88.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $257,000. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the first quarter worth approximately $223,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Evergy by 19.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Evergy by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 19,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 5,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Evergy by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 13,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc is a regulated electric utility that generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers primarily across Kansas and western Missouri. The company provides core utility services including retail electric delivery, grid operations, customer service and outage restoration, operating under state regulatory frameworks. Evergy serves a mix of urban and rural communities, including portions of the Kansas City metropolitan area and other population centers in its service territory.

The company’s business activities span power generation, system planning, transmission and distribution infrastructure, and customer-facing programs such as energy efficiency and demand-side management.