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

Shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the eleven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.7222.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Evergy from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Evergy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Barclays restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Evergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In other news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.33, for a total transaction of $578,640.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,092.67. The trade was a 94.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $257,000. Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new stake in Evergy in the first quarter valued at approximately $260,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Evergy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $320,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Evergy by 86.5% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 407,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,120,000 after buying an additional 189,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new position in Evergy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $76.47 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.50. Evergy has a fifty-two week low of $59.67 and a fifty-two week high of $79.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.61.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.695 dividend. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is 76.16%.

Evergy Company Profile

Evergy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the United States. The company generates electricity through coal, landfill gas, uranium, and natural gas and oil sources, as well as solar, wind, other renewable sources. It serves residences, commercial firms, industrials, municipalities, and other electric utilities.