Optas LLC Acquires Shares of 3,246 Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Optas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the first quarter valued at $212,132,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 16.7% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,737,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,749,000 after purchasing an additional 392,361 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 0.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,174,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,901,000 after purchasing an additional 13,555 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 11.2% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,730,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,342,000 after purchasing an additional 174,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 27.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,482,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,715,000 after purchasing an additional 321,406 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Evergy Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $77.47 on Friday. Evergy Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.12 and a twelve month high of $78.56. The company has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EVRG. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nine have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other news, SVP Lesley Lissette Elwell sold 8,000 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.33, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents 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 this link. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Evergy 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.