Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $90.40.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EVRG. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research set a $97.00 price target on Evergy in a research note on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In related news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $63,398.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $139,960.80. This trade represents a 31.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Evergy in the 4th quarter worth about $257,000. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in Evergy during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Evergy by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in Evergy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 19,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 5,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 13,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 939 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Evergy Stock Up 0.1%

EVRG opened at $86.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.45. Evergy has a fifty-two week low of $68.05 and a fifty-two week high of $88.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $84.35 and its 200 day moving average is $81.63. The stock has a market cap of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.54.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.63%.Evergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Evergy will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.74%.

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.