Commerce Bank Makes New $3.64 Million Investment in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Commerce Bank purchased a new $3.64 million stake in Evergy during the second quarter, buying 42,162 shares. Institutional investors collectively own 87.24% of the utility’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with eight Buy ratings and three Holds, an overall “Moderate Buy” consensus, and an average price target of $90.60.
• Evergy exceeded quarterly expectations with earnings of $0.88 per share and revenue of $1.50 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.695 per share, equal to a 3.4% annualized yield.

Commerce Bank bought a new stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 42,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,644,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in Evergy in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new position in Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Evergy in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EVRG shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Evergy in a report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Evergy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $90.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Evergy news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $48,846.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 680 shares in the company, valued at $55,358.80. This trade represents a 46.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of Evergy 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

Evergy Trading Up 0.6%

Evergy stock opened at $81.39 on Tuesday. Evergy Inc. has a one year low of $70.42 and a one year high of $88.62. The company's fifty day moving average price is $84.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.54.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.36 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 15.19%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. Evergy's payout ratio is 70.56%.

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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