Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.72

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.7225 per share on Friday, December 18th. This represents a $2.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. This is a 4.0% increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.6950.

Evergy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Evergy has a dividend payout ratio of 65.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Evergy to earn $4.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.78 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.0%.

Evergy Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:EVRG traded up $1.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $87.41. The company had a trading volume of 6,527,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,119,905. The company has a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.15. Evergy has a 52 week low of $71.40 and a 52 week high of $89.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.25. Evergy had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Evergy will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Evergy news, Director Jonathan Rolph bought 1,640 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $81.47 per share, for a total transaction of $133,610.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,584.90. This trade represents a -169.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Evergy during the second quarter valued at $3,279,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,569,000. Greenland Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,230,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,018,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,409,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc is an investor-owned electric utility that generates, transmits, distributes and sells electricity to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. The company operates regulated utilities in Kansas and Missouri, providing electric service through its Kansas Central, Kansas South, Missouri Metro and Missouri West operations.

Evergy’s generation portfolio includes wind, solar, coal, natural gas and nuclear power. The company also owns an interest in the Wolf Creek Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in Kansas, and continues to invest in renewable energy, grid modernization and other infrastructure intended to support reliable electricity service.

Evergy was formed in 2018 through the merger of Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy, the parent company of Kansas City Power & Light.