Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Raised to “Buy” at Guggenheim

Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Evergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.79.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of Evergy stock opened at $63.06 on Thursday. Evergy has a twelve month low of $48.04 and a twelve month high of $65.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.46.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62.93. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EVRG. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 391.1% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,030,000 after purchasing an additional 77,398 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Evergy by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 44,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,332,000 after buying an additional 16,619 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Evergy by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 997,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,806,000 after acquiring an additional 224,679 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 945,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,609,000 after acquiring an additional 239,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Evergy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 515,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,954,000 after acquiring an additional 14,383 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Evergy Company Profile

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.