Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new Evergy position in Q1, acquiring 11,700 shares valued at about $958,000.
• Evergy reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $0.69 per share versus estimates of $0.63 and revenue of $1.44 billion, also ahead of expectations.
• The utility continues to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.695, translating to an annualized yield of about 3.2%, while analysts currently rate the stock Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $90.10.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $958,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 24,981 shares of the company's stock worth $1,826,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its position in Evergy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 8,990 shares of the company's stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,571,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Composition Wealth LLC raised its stake in Evergy by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 3,920 shares of the company's stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was 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 directly owned 37,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This trade represents a 22.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 680 shares in the company, valued at $55,358.80. This represents a 46.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

Evergy Price Performance

EVRG stock opened at $88.13 on Monday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $83.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.33. The firm has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Evergy Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.30 and a 12 month high of $88.18.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.27 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on EVRG. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Bank of America dropped their price target on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Evergy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $90.10.

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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