The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Reduces Holdings in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its holdings in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 1.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 638,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,645 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Evergy were worth $52,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Evergy by 476.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 998,400 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 321.1% in the 4th quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 854,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,960,000 after purchasing an additional 651,738 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Evergy by 122.4% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 811,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,804,000 after purchasing an additional 446,400 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth $29,644,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in Evergy by 147.8% during the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 137,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,967,000 after purchasing an additional 425,000 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EVRG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut their price target on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BTIG Research set a $97.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.60.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $84.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $19.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.99. Evergy Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.54 and a twelve month high of $88.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In related news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total transaction of $63,398.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,960.80. This trade represents a 31.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

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.