Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Moderate Buy consensus from 12 brokerages (3 holds, 8 buys, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month target price of $88.90.
• Evergy has a $18.86B market cap and P/E of 22.32, analysts project ~3.83 EPS for the year, and the company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.695 (annualized yield ~3.4%, payout ratio ~75.8%).
• Insiders sold 8,937 shares (~$736k) in the past three months while institutional investors own about 87.24% of the stock.

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $88.90.

EVRG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Evergy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Evergy from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company.

Evergy Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Evergy stock opened at $81.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Evergy has a 1 year low of $63.29 and a 1 year high of $85.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $81.57 and a 200 day moving average of $77.73.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. Evergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.75%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other news, SVP Charles L. King sold 2,440 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.19, for a total value of $200,543.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 18,359 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,926.21. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 2,847 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.34, for a total transaction of $234,421.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,287.74. This represents a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 8,937 shares of company stock worth $736,492 over the last three months. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,215,208 shares of the company's stock worth $88,119,000 after acquiring an additional 237,046 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 136.0% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 11,007 shares of the company's stock worth $798,000 after acquiring an additional 6,344 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 9,106 shares of the company's stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 3,824 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 61,487 shares of the company's stock worth $4,458,000 after acquiring an additional 6,455 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 2,466.2% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,490 shares of the company's stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 3,354 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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