Evergy Inc. $EVRG Shares Acquired by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,058,061 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 251,027 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 2.63% of Evergy worth $460,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Accredited Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Evergy by 1,310.3% in the third quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC now owns 409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy during the third quarter worth about $41,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on EVRG shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on Evergy from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Evergy from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Evergy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.75.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $81.02 on Thursday. Evergy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.94 and a fifty-two week high of $85.23. The company has a market capitalization of $18.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.49.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Heather A. Humphrey sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.61, for a total transaction of $301,526.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 44,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,635,418.27. This trade represents a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 2,847 shares of Evergy 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 transaction, the director owned 2,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,287.74. This trade represents a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Profile

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.