Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 7,749 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 1.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 575,181 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,749 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $43,725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at $257,000. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Evergy in the first quarter valued at $223,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Evergy by 19.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 19,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 5,618 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 13,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Evergy Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $75.78 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.43 and its 200 day moving average is $73.50. Evergy Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.64 and a 12-month high of $79.32. The stock has a market cap of $17.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

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

Evergy Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EVRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Evergy from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Evergy to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Evergy from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price objective (down previously from $86.00) on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.