Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Evergy (NYSE:EVRG)

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 14.62% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Evergy from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group upgraded Evergy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.00.

Evergy Stock Down 0.8 %

Evergy stock traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $61.07. The stock had a trading volume of 1,610,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,099,791. The company has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.77. Evergy has a 52 week low of $46.92 and a 52 week high of $62.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.01. Evergy had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In other Evergy news, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 3,301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.85, for a total transaction of $194,263.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,545.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Evergy news, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $550,742.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,993,132.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 3,301 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.85, for a total transaction of $194,263.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,545.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,884 shares of company stock worth $941,810 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Evergy by 1,038.7% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,612,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,557,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294,967 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $112,464,000. Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in shares of Evergy by 781.4% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,326,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,182,000 after buying an additional 2,062,434 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $89,832,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Evergy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,757,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,605,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399,199 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

About Evergy

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.