Ledyard National Bank Sells 21,280 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Ledyard National Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 40.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,198 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,280 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Evergy were worth $2,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Evergy during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Evergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Burk Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in Evergy by 139.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 405 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

EVRG opened at $84.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $81.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.72. Evergy Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.40 and a 12-month high of $88.62. The firm has a market cap of $19.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 15.19%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Evergy Inc. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a $0.6950 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other Evergy news, Director Jonathan Rolph bought 1,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $81.47 per share, with a total value of $133,610.80. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,584.90. This represents a -169.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EVRG shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Evergy from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday, August 7th. HSBC assumed coverage on Evergy in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $92.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Evergy from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, BTIG Research set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.42.

Evergy Profile

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.