Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) Hits New 12-Month High at $61.59

Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $61.59 and last traded at $61.48, with a volume of 88236 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $61.06.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.33.

Evergy Trading Up 1.5 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.86 and a 200-day moving average of $54.54. The firm has a market cap of $14.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.59.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.01. Evergy had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.6425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $550,742.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 33,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,993,132.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total transaction of $550,742.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,993,132.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Heather A. Humphrey sold 3,347 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total value of $196,803.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 35,314 shares in the company, valued at $2,076,463.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,884 shares of company stock valued at $941,810 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the second quarter valued at $112,464,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Evergy by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 260,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,790,000 after buying an additional 19,193 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 316,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,892,000 after buying an additional 31,985 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter valued at $2,057,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,757,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,605,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399,199 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the United States. The company generates electricity through coal, landfill gas, uranium, and natural gas and oil sources, as well as solar, wind, other renewable sources. It serves residences, commercial firms, industrials, municipalities, and other electric utilities.