Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Receives $73.19 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $73.19.

Several brokerages recently commented on EVRG. UBS Group upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $78.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $78.00 price objective on Evergy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Evergy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $68.07 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.55. Evergy has a one year low of $54.76 and a one year high of $70.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.40.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.87% and a return on equity of 8.84%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Evergy will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 70.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Evergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Evergy by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,665,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,887,485,000 after purchasing an additional 221,086 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Evergy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,660,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,430,000 after purchasing an additional 128,211 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,637,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,063,000 after purchasing an additional 133,641 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Evergy by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,555,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,818,000 after purchasing an additional 130,804 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,434,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,376,000 after acquiring an additional 73,066 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

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.