Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 26,509 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,070 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,509 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Evergy were worth $14,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 11.0% during the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 21,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Evergy in the 1st quarter valued at $269,000. Retirement Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 23,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,938,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $920,000 after buying an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $48,846.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,358.80. This trade represents a 46.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of EVRG opened at $86.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.45. Evergy Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.64 and a 52 week high of $88.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $84.05 and a 200-day moving average of $81.17.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.63%.The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. Evergy’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.695 per share. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EVRG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research began coverage on Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.10.

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.