Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $70.30 and last traded at $69.39, with a volume of 743547 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EVRG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $69.08.

Evergy Stock Down 4.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.11). Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.45%.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Evergy by 184.4% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. 111 Capital bought a new position in shares of Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $341,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 33,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,046,000 after acquiring an additional 8,385 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,728,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 156,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

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.