Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Sets New 52-Week High - Still a Buy?

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim raised Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $69.08.

Evergy Trading Up 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $14.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $66.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.65.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.11). Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

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Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Evergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.45%.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Evergy by 391.1% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,030,000 after buying an additional 77,398 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Evergy by 9.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 273,314 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,948,000 after acquiring an additional 24,149 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Evergy during the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 22.1% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 5,168 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Evergy by 11.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 71,927 shares of the company's stock worth $4,460,000 after purchasing an additional 7,280 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.