Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) Increases Dividend to $0.67 Per Share

Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.6675 per share on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64.

Evergy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 19 consecutive years. Evergy has a payout ratio of 63.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Evergy to earn $4.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.57 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 63.6%.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of EVRG stock traded up $1.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $62.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,687,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,061,181. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $14.36 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.62. Evergy has a fifty-two week low of $47.97 and a fifty-two week high of $62.58. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.03.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 13.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In other Evergy news, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $550,742.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,993,132.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 3,301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.85, for a total transaction of $194,263.85. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,545.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $550,742.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,425 shares in the company, valued at $1,993,132.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,884 shares of company stock valued at $941,810. Insiders own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on EVRG shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.88.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the United States. The company generates electricity through coal, landfill gas, uranium, and natural gas and oil sources, as well as solar, wind, other renewable sources. It serves residences, commercial firms, industrials, municipalities, and other electric utilities.