Evergy Inc. $EVRG Shares Sold by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 161,646 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,000 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $12,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $187,857,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Evergy during the 2nd quarter valued at $138,233,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,373,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,497,000 after acquiring an additional 25,881 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Evergy during the 2nd quarter valued at $110,394,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,215,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,119,000 after purchasing an additional 237,046 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EVRG shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a research report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Evergy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. BTIG Research set a $97.00 price target on Evergy in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Evergy from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Evergy news, Director Jonathan Rolph purchased 1,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $81.47 per share, with a total value of $133,610.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 670 shares in the company, valued at $54,584.90. The trade was a -169.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Up 0.8%

Evergy stock opened at $82.13 on Wednesday. Evergy Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.40 and a 1-year high of $88.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $81.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 9.20%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th were given a $0.6950 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.56%.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc is an investor-owned electric utility holding company that provides electricity generation, transmission, distribution and related services. Through its operating utilities, the company serves residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers in Kansas and Missouri.

Evergy’s generation portfolio includes nuclear, natural gas, coal, wind and solar resources. The company also operates and maintains electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and has invested in renewable energy and grid modernization initiatives to support reliability and the transition to lower-emission energy sources.

Evergy was formed in 2018 through the merger of Great Plains Energy Incorporated and Westar Energy, Inc Its principal operating utilities include Evergy Kansas Central, Evergy Kansas South, Evergy Missouri Metro and Evergy Missouri West.