Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Boosts Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 5.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,658 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $1,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the first quarter worth about $212,132,000. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the first quarter worth about $63,444,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2,959.7% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 534,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,847,000 after purchasing an additional 517,087 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 16.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,737,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,749,000 after purchasing an additional 392,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 27.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,482,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,715,000 after purchasing an additional 321,406 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $77.96 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $74.17 and a 200 day moving average of $70.31. The company has a market capitalization of $17.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.42, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.57. Evergy Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.23 and a 1-year high of $79.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 14.29%.Evergy’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Evergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.920-4.120 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 73.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Evergy news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.33, for a total value of $578,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,092.67. The trade was a 94.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EVRG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Evergy from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Evergy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eight have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.07.

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.