Aventail Capital Group LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Aventail Capital Group LP cut its Evergy stake by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 57,362 shares and ending with 113,923 shares worth about $8.26 million.
• Institutional interest in Evergy remains strong, with hedge funds and other investors owning 87.24% of the stock. Some firms, including Adage Capital Partners and Renaissance Technologies, significantly increased their positions.
• Evergy reported solid results and income-related news: quarterly EPS of $0.69 beat estimates, revenue rose 5% year over year, and the company declared a $0.695 quarterly dividend yielding about 3.4%.

Aventail Capital Group LP lowered its position in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,923 shares of the company's stock after selling 57,362 shares during the quarter. Aventail Capital Group LP's holdings in Evergy were worth $8,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in Evergy by 476.6% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,207,882 shares of the company's stock worth $87,559,000 after buying an additional 998,400 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new position in Evergy during the third quarter worth about $72,860,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP boosted its stake in Evergy by 321.1% during the fourth quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 854,739 shares of the company's stock worth $61,960,000 after buying an additional 651,738 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Evergy by 122.4% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 811,202 shares of the company's stock worth $58,804,000 after buying an additional 446,400 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new position in Evergy during the second quarter worth about $29,644,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on EVRG. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 target price on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Evergy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.60.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In other news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $63,398.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,680 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $139,960.80. This trade represents a 31.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. The trade was a 22.21% decrease in their position. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870. Insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

Evergy Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $82.85 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.45. Evergy Inc. has a one year low of $66.19 and a one year high of $85.27. The firm has a market cap of $19.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.54.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.06. Evergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Evergy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.340 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.695 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Evergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.74%.

Evergy Profile

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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