Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $90.40.

A number of research firms have weighed in on EVRG. UBS Group upped their target price on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price target on Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th.

Evergy Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $86.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.63. Evergy has a one year low of $68.05 and a one year high of $88.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.06. Evergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Evergy will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.74%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $900,283.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This trade represents a 22.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $48,846.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,358.80. This trade represents a 46.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,073,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Evergy by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 316,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after purchasing an additional 14,907 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its position in Evergy by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 174,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,637,000 after purchasing an additional 57,795 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its position in Evergy by 295.4% during the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 105,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,668,000 after purchasing an additional 79,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Evergy by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 768,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,675,000 after purchasing an additional 67,850 shares in 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.