Westpac Banking Corp Invests $1.55 Million in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Westpac Banking Corp bought a new stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,546,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Evergy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,447,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,684,000 after buying an additional 105,842 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 worth $441,574,000 after acquiring an additional 33,457 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 1.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Evergy by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,760,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,853,000 after purchasing an additional 263,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Evergy by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,847,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,919,000 after purchasing an additional 408,452 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

Evergy stock opened at $80.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.54. Evergy Inc. has a one year low of $70.42 and a one year high of $88.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $84.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 9.20%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. Evergy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.340 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on EVRG shares. BTIG Research set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,153,869.94. The trade was a 22.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $63,398.91. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $139,960.80. This represents a 31.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870 over the last 90 days. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.