Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 4,250 Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired 4,250 shares of Evergy Inc., valued at approximately $293,000, during the second quarter.
• Evergy recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6675 per share, which amounts to an annualized yield of 3.4%.
• Several analysts upgraded their price targets for Evergy, with Jefferies Financial Group raising it from $77.00 to $87.00 and maintaining a "buy" rating.

Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $293,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi lifted its holdings in Evergy by 14.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 140,301 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,710,000 after purchasing an additional 17,477 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Evergy by 16.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,737,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $188,749,000 after buying an additional 392,361 shares during the period. Integrity Alliance LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Evergy during the first quarter valued at about $319,000. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Evergy during the second quarter valued at about $413,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Evergy by 26.6% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 124,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,558,000 after buying an additional 26,086 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Evergy news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.33, for a total transaction of $578,640.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 499 shares in the company, valued at $36,092.67. This trade represents a 94.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Evergy Stock Up 0.9%

EVRG stock opened at $78.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company's 50 day moving average is $73.73 and its 200 day moving average is $70.01. The stock has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.57. Evergy Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.23 and a 1-year high of $79.32.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.45 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 8.62%. Evergy's revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Evergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.920-4.120 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Evergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EVRG shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Evergy from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho upped their price target on Evergy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eight have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $78.07.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the United States. The company generates electricity through coal, landfill gas, uranium, and natural gas and oil sources, as well as solar, wind, other renewable sources. It serves residences, commercial firms, industrials, municipalities, and other electric utilities.

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