Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

Several analysts recently commented on EVRG shares. UBS Group raised Evergy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Evergy from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Evergy Price Performance

NYSE:EVRG opened at $61.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.11 and a 200-day moving average of $56.14. Evergy has a 52 week low of $47.46 and a 52 week high of $62.58. The company has a market capitalization of $14.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.62.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 8.50%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.6425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other news, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total transaction of $550,742.68. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total transaction of $550,742.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 33,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,993,132.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 3,301 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.85, for a total value of $194,263.85. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,545.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,884 shares of company stock worth $941,810. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Evergy in the second quarter valued at about $112,464,000. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in Evergy by 781.4% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,326,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,182,000 after acquiring an additional 2,062,434 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Evergy by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,757,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,605,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,199 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Evergy by 38.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,683,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy in the second quarter worth $50,044,000. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.