First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Stock Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 2.5% in Q3, selling 50,679 shares and ending the period with 1,978,753 shares (~0.86% of the company) valued at about $150.43 million.
• Several institutional investors sharply increased stakes—Magellan (+1,418.7%), Massachusetts Financial Services (+346.2%), Assenagon (+969.3%)—leaving institutional ownership at 87.24%.
• Analysts are broadly positive with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a mean price target of $86.88, and Evergy recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.695 (annualized $2.78, ~3.3% yield).

First Trust Advisors LP cut its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,978,753 shares of the company's stock after selling 50,679 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.86% of Evergy worth $150,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Evergy by 1,418.7% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,364,493 shares of the company's stock worth $162,985,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208,799 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 346.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,046,787 shares of the company's stock worth $155,597,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588,100 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Evergy by 969.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,329,424 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,101 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new position in shares of Evergy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $72,860,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Evergy by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,438,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,390,000 after buying an additional 904,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on EVRG shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group cut Evergy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $86.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Evergy from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.88.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other Evergy news, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 2,847 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.34, for a total transaction of $234,421.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,311 shares in the company, valued at $190,287.74. This represents a 55.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Evergy Stock Performance

Evergy stock opened at $83.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $19.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.83. Evergy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.94 and a fifty-two week high of $85.23.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, January 31st. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.79% and a net margin of 14.35%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.695 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Evergy's dividend payout ratio is 75.75%.

About Evergy

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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