Viking Fund Management LLC Acquires 20,000 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Key Points

• Viking Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Evergy Inc. by 25%, purchasing an additional 20,000 shares, bringing its total holdings to 100,000 shares valued at approximately $6.89 million.
• Evergy reported $0.82 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, despite a 0.7% decline in year-over-year revenue.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6675 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 3.7%, with a dividend payout ratio of 73.35%.

Viking Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,000 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC's holdings in Evergy were worth $6,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Evergy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Evergy by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 20,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 104.6% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 476,323 shares of the company's stock worth $29,318,000 after purchasing an additional 243,544 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Evergy in the fourth quarter worth about $192,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $970,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on EVRG shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on Evergy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on Evergy from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $78.00 price objective on Evergy and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eight have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.44.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG traded up $1.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $72.29. 2,782,613 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,868,421. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.67. Evergy Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.00 and a twelve month high of $73.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $16.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Evergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.33, for a total transaction of $578,640.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company's stock.

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.