Empower Advisory Group LLC Purchases 34,267 Shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Evergy Inc. by 2.9%, owning 1,227,231 shares worth approximately $84.6 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Recent analyst ratings for Evergy show a mix of opinions: While Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock to a "sell," UBS upgraded it to a "buy" with a price target increase to $78.
• Evergy's stock reported a 2.2% increase to $73.12, and the company recently missed earnings estimates but exceeded revenue expectations in its latest report.

Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,227,231 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 34,267 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned 0.53% of Evergy worth $84,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stolper Co boosted its position in Evergy by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Stolper Co now owns 34,630 shares of the company's stock worth $2,388,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Evergy by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,946 shares of the company's stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC lifted its position in Evergy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 24,372 shares of the company's stock worth $1,500,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Evergy by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,877 shares of the company's stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,338 shares of the company's stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Evergy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Evergy from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $78.00 price target on shares of Evergy and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $78.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Evergy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.06.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of Evergy stock traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $72.87. The company had a trading volume of 3,368,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,532,348. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $68.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.39. The stock has a market cap of $16.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Evergy Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.28 and a 1-year high of $73.97.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.87% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The business's revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Evergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.26%.

Evergy 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.