Jennison Associates LLC Sells 460,463 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC cut its Evergy stake by 31.7% in the first quarter, selling 460,463 shares and ending with 992,503 shares valued at about $81.3 million.
• Evergy received mostly positive analyst attention, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $90.10; several firms recently raised or reiterated ratings and targets.
• The utility reported strong quarterly results, earning $0.69 per share versus the $0.63 estimate and posting revenue of $1.44 billion, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.695 per share for a 3.2% yield.

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 31.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 992,503 shares of the company's stock after selling 460,463 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.43% of Evergy worth $81,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MidFirst Bank bought a new position in shares of Evergy in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new stake in Evergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Triumph Capital Management raised its stake in Evergy by 104.8% during the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 508 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Evergy by 163.2% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 529 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $99.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price target on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Evergy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $90.10.

Insider Activity

In other Evergy news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 680 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,358.80. The trade was a 46.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $85.59 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.54. Evergy Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.00 and a 1 year high of $88.62. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $84.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

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

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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