Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Receives $64.06 Average Price Target from Analysts

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.06.

EVRG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Evergy Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of EVRG traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $63.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,664,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,594,806. The company has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64. Evergy has a 52 week low of $48.04 and a 52 week high of $65.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.46 and a 200 day moving average of $60.35.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Evergy will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. This is an increase from Evergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy's payout ratio is currently 72.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 307,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,304,000 after purchasing an additional 35,940 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Evergy by 7.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,236,343 shares of the company's stock worth $65,491,000 after buying an additional 83,035 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Evergy by 7.6% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 47,243 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,500,000 after buying an additional 3,324 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 24.2% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 72,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,861,000 after buying an additional 14,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 34,051 shares of the company's stock worth $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 7,484 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.