Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 33,457 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,091,518 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 33,457 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 2.65% of Evergy worth $441,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Evergy by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 28,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,935 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Evergy by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 63,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,935 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 8,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 174,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,637,000 after purchasing an additional 57,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 61.8% in the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 25,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after buying an additional 9,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In other Evergy news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $48,846.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 680 shares in the company, valued at $55,358.80. This trade represents a 46.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Charles L. King sold 2,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.19, for a total transaction of $200,543.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 18,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,926.21. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,401 shares of company stock valued at $362,131. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EVRG shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Evergy from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Evergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Evergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.60.

Evergy Trading Down 1.9%

EVRG stock opened at $81.69 on Tuesday. Evergy Inc. has a one year low of $65.25 and a one year high of $85.27. The stock has a market cap of $18.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $82.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. Evergy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.340 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.74%.

Evergy Company Profile

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.