First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Acquires 83,155 Shares of Evergy Inc. $EVRG

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 65.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 210,622 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,155 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $17,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at $1,073,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Evergy by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 316,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 14,907 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its stake in Evergy by 49.6% during the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 174,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,637,000 after acquiring an additional 57,795 shares in the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Evergy by 295.4% in the fourth quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 105,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,668,000 after purchasing an additional 79,029 shares during the period. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in Evergy by 119.1% in the fourth quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 43,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,180,000 after purchasing an additional 23,842 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In related news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $48,846.00. Following the sale, the director owned 680 shares in the company, valued at $55,358.80. This represents a 46.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. The trade was a 22.21% decrease in their position. 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 in the last 90 days. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $84.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $19.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.53, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Evergy Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.00 and a 12-month high of $88.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 73.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EVRG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings raised Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price target on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.10.

About Evergy

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.