Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 8,290,000 shares, a growth of 15.8% from the November 15th total of 7,160,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,810,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62.93. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Evergy by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Evergy during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of Evergy stock traded down $0.49 during trading on Monday, reaching $61.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,778,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,723. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.89. Evergy has a 12-month low of $48.04 and a 12-month high of $65.47. The company has a market capitalization of $14.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.6675 dividend. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.16%.

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.