Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group cut its Evergy stake by 4.9% in the first quarter, selling 27,353 shares and leaving it with 528,399 shares valued at about $43.3 million.
• Evergy’s latest quarter beat expectations, with EPS of $0.69 versus the $0.63 estimate and revenue of $1.44 billion, up 5% year over year.
• The company continues to draw mixed signals from Wall Street and insiders: analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus with a $90.10 target, while insiders recently sold shares and Evergy also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.695 per share.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 528,399 shares of the company's stock after selling 27,353 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of Evergy worth $43,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in Evergy by 476.6% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,207,882 shares of the company's stock worth $87,559,000 after acquiring an additional 998,400 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 321.1% in the fourth quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 854,739 shares of the company's stock worth $61,960,000 after purchasing an additional 651,738 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 811,202 shares of the company's stock worth $58,804,000 after purchasing an additional 446,400 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in shares of Evergy in the second quarter worth approximately $29,644,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 147.8% in the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 137,500 shares of the company's stock worth $9,967,000 after purchasing an additional 425,000 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EVRG. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Evergy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. 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 price objective on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on Evergy in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Evergy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $90.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other Evergy news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $48,846.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 680 shares in the company, valued at $55,358.80. The trade was a 46.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870 in the last 90 days. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $85.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.24 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 $88.62. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $83.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.54.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analysts' expectations of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

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

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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