Bank of America Cuts Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Price Target to $88.00

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) had its price target decreased by Bank of America from $89.00 to $88.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock.

EVRG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Evergy in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Evergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Evergy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Evergy from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.90.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $82.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Evergy has a fifty-two week low of $63.29 and a fifty-two week high of $85.27. The stock has a market cap of $18.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.79.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, January 31st. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter. Evergy had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 8.79%. Analysts expect that Evergy will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 75.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Evergy news, SVP Charles L. King sold 2,440 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.19, for a total value of $200,543.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 18,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,926.21. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 2,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.34, for a total transaction of $234,421.98. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,311 shares in the company, valued at $190,287.74. This represents a 55.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 8,937 shares of company stock worth $736,492 over the last ninety days. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 105,842 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Evergy by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,091,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,574,000 after purchasing an additional 33,457 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Evergy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,760,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,602,000 after buying an additional 57,814 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Evergy by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,760,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,853,000 after buying an additional 263,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in Evergy by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,444,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,822,000 after buying an additional 79,888 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.