Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Stock Rated “Buy” in New Coverage at TD Cowen

TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. BTIG Research set a $94.00 target price on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $92.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Evergy in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Evergy from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.42.

Evergy Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $84.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $19.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $81.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.36. Evergy has a 52-week low of $71.40 and a 52-week high of $88.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.07. Evergy had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Evergy will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a $0.6950 dividend. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is 70.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jonathan Rolph acquired 1,640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $81.47 per share, for a total transaction of $133,610.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,584.90. This represents a -169.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Evergy in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Burk Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Evergy during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc is an investor-owned electric utility that generates, transmits, distributes and sells electricity to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. The company operates regulated utilities in Kansas and Missouri, providing electric service through its Kansas Central, Kansas South, Missouri Metro and Missouri West operations.

Evergy’s generation portfolio includes wind, solar, coal, natural gas and nuclear power. The company also owns an interest in the Wolf Creek Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in Kansas, and continues to invest in renewable energy, grid modernization and other infrastructure intended to support reliable electricity service.

Evergy was formed in 2018 through the merger of Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy, the parent company of Kansas City Power & Light.