Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Short Interest Up 9.3% in December

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,060,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the November 30th total of 8,290,000 shares. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,880,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Evergy Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG traded up $0.30 on Tuesday, reaching $61.82. The company had a trading volume of 56,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,036,538. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.44. Evergy has a twelve month low of $48.04 and a twelve month high of $65.47.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Evergy will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were 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 owns 1 shares in the company, valued at $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Evergy by 391.1% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,030,000 after buying an additional 77,398 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Evergy by 13.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 307,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,304,000 after purchasing an additional 35,940 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in Evergy by 60.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 44,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,332,000 after purchasing an additional 16,619 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 49.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,178,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,414,000 after purchasing an additional 388,625 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 945,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,609,000 after buying an additional 239,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Evergy Company 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.