Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $87.64 and last traded at $87.6330, with a volume of 567041 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EVRG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.10.

Evergy Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.27 and its 200 day moving average is $80.29.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 9.09%. Evergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.74%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total transaction of $63,398.91. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $139,960.80. The trade was a 31.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This trade represents a 22.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Evergy by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 83,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,327,000 after buying an additional 20,395 shares during the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,073,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Evergy by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 316,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 14,907 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 29.3% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 560,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,613,000 after purchasing an additional 126,893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Evergy by 295.4% during the fourth 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. 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.