Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Receives $80.72 Average Target Price from Analysts

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.7222.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on EVRG shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Evergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Evergy from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Evergy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th.

Evergy Trading Up 0.6%

Evergy stock opened at $73.80 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Evergy has a 52 week low of $59.67 and a 52 week high of $79.32. The company has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.52.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.14 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The firm’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.33, for a total value of $578,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 499 shares in the company, valued at $36,092.67. This 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 at this link. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Accredited Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Evergy by 1,310.3% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC now owns 409 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Evergy in the second quarter worth $33,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy during the third quarter worth $41,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Evergy in the third quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% 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.