Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $87.75.

EVRG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Evergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Evergy in a report on Friday, January 23rd.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $78.70 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.49. Evergy has a one year low of $61.94 and a one year high of $85.23. The firm has a market cap of $18.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $0.695 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 75.75%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In related news, SVP Heather A. Humphrey sold 3,650 shares of Evergy 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 44,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,635,418.27. The trade was a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 transaction of $234,421.98. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,287.74. This trade represents a 55.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,937 shares of company stock worth $736,492. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Evergy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,966,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,134,540,000 after purchasing an additional 521,310 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,447,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,684,000 after purchasing an additional 105,842 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Evergy by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,091,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,574,000 after purchasing an additional 33,457 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Evergy by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,760,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,602,000 after buying an additional 57,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Evergy by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,760,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,853,000 after buying an additional 263,619 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

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.