Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $958,000 Investment in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $958,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EVRG. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in Evergy by 476.6% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,207,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,559,000 after purchasing an additional 998,400 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP raised its holdings in Evergy by 321.1% during the fourth quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 854,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,960,000 after buying an additional 651,738 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Evergy by 122.4% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 811,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,804,000 after acquiring an additional 446,400 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new stake in Evergy during the second quarter worth $29,644,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP raised its position in Evergy by 147.8% in the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 137,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,967,000 after buying an additional 425,000 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $63,398.91. Following the sale, the director owned 1,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,960.80. The trade was a 31.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. The trade was a 22.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

EVRG stock opened at $88.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.33. Evergy Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.30 and a 1-year high of $88.18.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 73.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on EVRG. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Evergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.10.

About Evergy

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.