Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.08.

EVRG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th.

Evergy Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of Evergy stock opened at $66.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.79 and its 200 day moving average is $63.57. Evergy has a 1 year low of $49.55 and a 1 year high of $70.30.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.11). Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Evergy 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 issued a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.45%.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,665,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,887,485,000 after purchasing an additional 221,086 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Evergy by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,660,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,430,000 after purchasing an additional 128,211 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,637,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,063,000 after buying an additional 133,641 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,555,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,818,000 after buying an additional 130,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Evergy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,434,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,376,000 after buying an additional 73,066 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently 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.