Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Trims Stake in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. significantly reduced its stake in Evergy Inc. by 81.8%, selling 558,157 shares, and now holds 0.05% of the company valued at approximately $8.57 million.
• Evergy reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.82, exceeding analysts' estimates of $0.78, despite a 0.7% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company recently enhanced its dividend, declaring a quarterly payment of $0.6675 per share, which represents an annualized yield of 3.6%.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 81.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,323 shares of the company's stock after selling 558,157 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.05% of Evergy worth $8,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Evergy by 16.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,737,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $188,749,000 after purchasing an additional 392,361 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 140,301 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,710,000 after buying an additional 17,477 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Evergy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $267,000. Integrity Alliance LLC. bought a new stake in Evergy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $319,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,728,000. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Evergy and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Evergy from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Evergy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eight have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $74.44.

Evergy Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $73.29 on Wednesday. Evergy Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.00 and a 12 month high of $73.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $16.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.58.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.04. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 14.29%.The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The firm's revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Evergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.920-4.120 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Evergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.33, for a total value of $578,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 499 shares in the company, valued at $36,092.67. The trade was a 94.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company's stock.

Evergy Company Profile

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.

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