California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 71,021 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its Evergy stake by 11.6% in the first quarter, selling 71,021 shares and leaving it with 538,644 shares valued at about $44.1 million.
• Insiders have also been selling: EVP Charles A. Caisley and Director Sandra Aj Lawrence both trimmed holdings, with insiders selling 12,748 shares total over the last 90 days.
• Evergy reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and the company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.695 per share, implying a 3.3% annualized yield.

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 11.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 538,644 shares of the company's stock after selling 71,021 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.23% of Evergy worth $44,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MidFirst Bank bought a new position in Evergy in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management increased its position in shares of Evergy by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 508 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $900,283.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,153,869.94. The trade was a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $48,846.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,358.80. The trade was a 46.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870 in the last ninety days. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EVRG shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Evergy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $90.10.

Evergy Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $85.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $19.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's fifty day moving average is $84.16 and its 200 day moving average is $81.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Evergy Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.00 and a 52 week high of $88.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. Evergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Evergy's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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