Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 5.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 134,442 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,637 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Evergy were worth $11,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan now owns 31,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,716,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Evergy during the 2nd quarter worth $570,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Evergy during the second quarter worth about $265,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Evergy in the second quarter valued at $3,279,000. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EVRG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Evergy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $97.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Evergy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This trade represents a 22.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $81.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $84.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.03. Evergy Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.42 and a twelve month high of $88.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 15.19%.The business had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.56%.

Evergy Company 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.