Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 10,381 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Sterling Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 54.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,558 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,381 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Triumph Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 508 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 163.2% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 529 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Evergy Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $86.19 on Thursday. Evergy Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.30 and a 1-year high of $87.57. The company has a market capitalization of $19.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $82.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.63%.Evergy’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EVRG. Weiss Ratings upgraded Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price target on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $63,398.91. Following the sale, the director owned 1,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,960.80. This represents a 31.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

About Evergy

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.