First Trust Advisors LP Has $120.23 Million Stock Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP cut its Evergy stake by 22.7% in the first quarter, but still held 1.47 million shares worth about $120.23 million.
• Evergy recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.69 per share versus the $0.63 estimate, while revenue came in at $1.44 billion and rose 5% year over year.
• The company maintains a 3.2% dividend yield, and Wall Street remains generally positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $90.40.

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 22.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,467,647 shares of the company's stock after selling 429,977 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.64% of Evergy worth $120,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EVRG. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Evergy during the fourth quarter worth $257,000. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Evergy in the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 19.5% during the 1st 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 period. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in shares of Evergy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 19,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,340,000 after buying an additional 5,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 7.3% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 13,791 shares of the company's stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 939 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on EVRG shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised Evergy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $90.40.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $86.65 on Friday. Evergy Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.05 and a 12-month high of $88.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $84.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.63.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy's dividend payout ratio is 73.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Evergy news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was 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 $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 Evergy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $48,846.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 680 shares of the company's stock, 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 worth $1,061,870 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

Evergy Company 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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