Truist Financial Corp Buys 408,452 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 28.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,847,410 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 408,452 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Evergy were worth $133,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Evergy in the third quarter worth about $1,482,000. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new position in Evergy in the third quarter worth about $72,860,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Evergy by 9.9% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 209,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,912,000 after buying an additional 18,783 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Evergy by 207.0% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,720,000 after buying an additional 15,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis Capital Management bought a new position in Evergy in the third quarter worth about $1,379,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other Evergy news, SVP Heather A. Humphrey sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.61, for a total transaction of $301,526.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 44,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,635,418.27. This trade represents a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Charles L. King sold 2,440 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.19, for a total transaction of $200,543.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 18,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,926.21. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,937 shares of company stock valued at $736,492. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $82.61 on Monday. Evergy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.29 and a fifty-two week high of $85.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.12. The company has a market capitalization of $19.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.49.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its earnings results on Saturday, January 31st. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter. Evergy had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 8.79%. Analysts expect that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EVRG. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Evergy from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group downgraded shares of Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $86.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 target price on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.30.

Evergy Profile

Evergy, Inc is a regulated electric utility that generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers primarily across Kansas and western Missouri. The company provides core utility services including retail electric delivery, grid operations, customer service and outage restoration, operating under state regulatory frameworks. Evergy serves a mix of urban and rural communities, including portions of the Kansas City metropolitan area and other population centers in its service territory.

The company’s business activities span power generation, system planning, transmission and distribution infrastructure, and customer-facing programs such as energy efficiency and demand-side management.