Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 37,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,279,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Evergy by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,447,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,684,000 after acquiring an additional 105,842 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,091,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,574,000 after acquiring an additional 33,457 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,760,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,602,000 after acquiring an additional 57,814 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Evergy by 10.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,760,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,853,000 after purchasing an additional 263,619 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Evergy during the second quarter worth approximately $187,857,000. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,153,869.94. This trade represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $48,846.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,358.80. This trade represents a 46.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 11,587 shares of company stock worth $965,655 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

EVRG stock opened at $80.65 on Monday. Evergy Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.42 and a twelve month high of $88.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.61 and its 200-day moving average is $83.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.54.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 15.19%.The company had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 70.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EVRG has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Evergy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.60.

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.