First Trust Advisors LP Has $120.23 Million Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 22.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,467,647 shares of the company’s stock after selling 429,977 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Evergy were worth $120,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Triumph Capital Management raised its holdings in Evergy by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 508 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Evergy by 163.2% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 529 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

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

Evergy Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $86.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.63. 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 $68.05 and a 52 week high of $88.62.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.695 dividend. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 73.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on EVRG shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 target price on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.40.

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.