Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $92.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Evergy from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.69.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $87.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.49. Evergy has a fifty-two week low of $71.40 and a fifty-two week high of $89.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.31.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.25. Evergy had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Evergy will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be issued a $0.7225 dividend. This represents a $2.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.6950. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jonathan Rolph acquired 1,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $81.47 per share, with a total value of $133,610.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 670 shares in the company, valued at $54,584.90. The trade was a -169.07% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Evergy during the second quarter valued at approximately $187,857,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Evergy in the second quarter worth $138,233,000. Energy Income Partners LLC bought a new position in Evergy in the second quarter worth $110,394,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Evergy during the second quarter valued at $54,307,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Evergy during the second quarter valued at $53,210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Company Profile