Analysts Set Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) PT at $86.88

Shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.8750.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EVRG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Evergy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group downgraded Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Evergy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $82.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research note on Monday.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $82.99 on Tuesday. Evergy has a one year low of $61.94 and a one year high of $83.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.33.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Evergy news, 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 value of $234,421.98. Following the sale, the director owned 2,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,287.74. The trade was a 55.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Evergy by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,966,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,134,540,000 after purchasing an additional 521,310 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Evergy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,447,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,684,000 after buying an additional 105,842 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Evergy by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,091,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,574,000 after buying an additional 33,457 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Evergy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,760,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,602,000 after acquiring an additional 57,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew 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 acquiring an additional 263,619 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.