Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Lowered to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

EVRG has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Evergy from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Barclays reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Evergy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Evergy from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.72.

Evergy Stock Performance

EVRG opened at $73.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.25. The stock has a market cap of $16.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.65. Evergy has a 1-year low of $59.67 and a 1-year high of $79.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by ($0.11). Evergy had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 14.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 76.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the 1st quarter worth $212,132,000. Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Evergy by 1,418.7% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,364,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,985,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208,799 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Evergy by 346.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,046,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,597,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588,100 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 969.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,329,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,101 shares during the period. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Evergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $72,860,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Evergy Company Profile

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.