Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,135,011 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 634,735 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.93% of Evergy worth $132,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Evergy by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 531 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Evergy in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EVRG shares. Barclays decreased their price target on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.88.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $64.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.91. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.04 and a fifty-two week high of $64.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.62.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. Evergy’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 72.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total transaction of $3,029,513.13. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62.93. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Heather A. Humphrey sold 3,347 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total value of $196,803.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 35,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,076,463.20. This trade represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,724 shares of company stock worth $3,777,059. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Evergy Profile

Evergy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the United States. The company generates electricity through coal, landfill gas, uranium, and natural gas and oil sources, as well as solar, wind, other renewable sources. It serves residences, commercial firms, industrials, municipalities, and other electric utilities.