Reviewing OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) & Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) and OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Evergy and OGE Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evergy	0	3	8	0	2.73
OGE Energy	0	7	4	0	2.36

Evergy currently has a consensus target price of $90.60, suggesting a potential upside of 9.14%. OGE Energy has a consensus target price of $49.80, suggesting a potential upside of 4.94%. Given Evergy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Evergy is more favorable than OGE Energy.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.2% of Evergy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.8% of OGE Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Evergy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of OGE Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Evergy pays an annual dividend of $2.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. OGE Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Evergy pays out 73.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OGE Energy pays out 74.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Evergy has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years and OGE Energy has increased its dividend for 18 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Evergy and OGE Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evergy	$5.96 billion	3.21	$855.60 million	$3.77	22.02
OGE Energy	$3.26 billion	3.01	$470.70 million	$2.27	20.90

Evergy has higher revenue and earnings than OGE Energy. OGE Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Evergy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Evergy and OGE Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Evergy	14.63%	9.09%	2.75%
OGE Energy	14.44%	9.48%	3.24%

Risk & Volatility

Evergy has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OGE Energy has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Evergy beats OGE Energy on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.

About OGE Energy

OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy services provider in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. In addition, it provides retail electric service to approximately 896,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets. OGE Energy Corp. was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.