Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Raises Dividend to $0.72 Per Share

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.7225 per share on Friday, December 18th. This represents a $2.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. This is a 4.0% increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.6950.

Evergy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Evergy has a payout ratio of 65.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Evergy to earn $4.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.78 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.0%.

Evergy Trading Up 1.4%

EVRG stock traded up $1.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $87.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,527,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,119,905. The company has a market cap of $20.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.15. 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 has a 12 month low of $71.40 and a 12 month high of $89.66.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.25. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 15.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Evergy will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on EVRG. Barclays decreased their target price on Evergy from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Evergy in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Evergy in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Evergy from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Evergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.00.

About Evergy

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.