Evergy Inc. $EVRG Shares Sold by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Key Points

• Renaissance Technologies cut its Evergy stake by 37.4% in the first quarter, selling 303,300 shares and retaining 507,902 shares valued at approximately $41.6 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 87.24% of Evergy.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with eight Buy ratings and three Holds producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $90.60.
• Evergy exceeded first-quarter expectations, reporting EPS of $0.69 versus the $0.63 consensus and revenue of $1.44 billion. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.695, representing a 3.2% yield.

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 37.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 507,902 shares of the company's stock after selling 303,300 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.22% of Evergy worth $41,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $257,000. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in Evergy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Evergy by 19.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,648 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Evergy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 19,429 shares of the company's stock worth $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 5,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Evergy by 7.3% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 13,791 shares of the company's stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In other Evergy news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $48,846.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,153,869.94. This trade represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold a total of 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870 over the last ninety days. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America lowered their target price on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research set a $97.00 target price on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $90.60.

Evergy Price Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $85.84 on Tuesday. Evergy Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.05 and a 12-month high of $88.62. The firm has a market cap of $19.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.54. The company's 50-day moving average is $84.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy's payout ratio 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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