Evergy Inc. $EVRG Stake Lessened by Gabelli Funds LLC

Gabelli Funds LLC lessened its holdings in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,041,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,333 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $85,291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at $257,000. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Evergy during the 1st quarter worth about $223,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Evergy by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in Evergy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 19,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,340,000 after acquiring an additional 5,618 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in Evergy by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 13,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $87.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.10 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.54. Evergy Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.05 and a 1 year high of $88.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $84.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.66.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.06. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.63%.The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.74%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In related news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $63,398.91. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,960.80. This trade represents a 31.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $900,283.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This trade represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. BTIG Research set a $97.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Evergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.60.

Evergy Company 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.