Brokerages Set Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Price Target at $72.44

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Buy" by the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.44.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EVRG shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $78.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Evergy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Evergy Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Evergy stock traded down $0.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.60. The stock had a trading volume of 853,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,847. Evergy has a 12 month low of $52.10 and a 12 month high of $70.36. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $67.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.22. The stock has a market cap of $15.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Evergy will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. Evergy's payout ratio is 70.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter worth $269,000. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 16,492 shares of the company's stock worth $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,089 shares of the company's stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 88,957 shares of the company's stock worth $5,475,000 after purchasing an additional 14,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,023 shares of the company's stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.