Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $87.64 and last traded at $87.6330, with a volume of 567041 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $86.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EVRG has been the subject of a number of research reports. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.10.

Evergy Stock Up 1.7%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.63%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In related news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $48,846.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 680 shares in the company, valued at $55,358.80. This represents a 46.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $900,283.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc acquired a new position in Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Triumph Capital Management lifted its stake in Evergy by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 163.2% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 529 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Company 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.