Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 10,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $796,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Evergy by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,966,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,134,540,000 after purchasing an additional 521,310 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,257,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,677,000 after buying an additional 170,953 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Evergy by 2.1% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,807,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,279,000 after buying an additional 118,124 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Evergy by 8.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,685,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,017,000 after buying an additional 293,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in Evergy by 44.4% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,470,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,320,000 after buying an additional 760,301 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Evergy Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Evergy stock opened at $75.69 on Friday. Evergy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.94 and a fifty-two week high of $79.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $74.40 and a 200 day moving average of $73.82.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.14 by ($0.11). Evergy had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Evergy’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EVRG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Evergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Evergy from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Evergy from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.75.

Evergy 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.