Swiss National Bank Sells 33,100 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 4.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 663,126 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Evergy were worth $50,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Accredited Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in Evergy during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Evergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in Evergy in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Evergy Stock Up 0.9%

Evergy stock opened at $81.74 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.51 and a 200-day moving average of $76.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Evergy Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.94 and a twelve month high of $85.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.75%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other news, SVP Heather A. Humphrey sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.61, for a total value of $301,526.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 44,007 shares in the company, valued at $3,635,418.27. The trade was a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 2,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.34, for a total value of $234,421.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $190,287.74. This 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EVRG. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Evergy from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group cut Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $86.00 to $88.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Evergy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Evergy from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Evergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.75.

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.