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

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $64.06.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total transaction of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Evergy by 47.1% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Evergy by 47.8% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $63.16 on Monday. Evergy has a 1 year low of $48.04 and a 1 year high of $65.47. The stock has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $62.46 and its 200-day moving average is $60.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Evergy will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.