Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 278,197 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,595 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Evergy worth $17,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Evergy by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,046,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,657,253,000 after buying an additional 288,913 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 38.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,683,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,374 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 18.8% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,490,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,901,000 after acquiring an additional 552,455 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Evergy by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,686,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,787,000 after purchasing an additional 134,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Evergy by 6,854.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,539,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,443,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502,493 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on EVRG shares. Jefferies Financial Group started 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 lowered their price objective on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised Evergy to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.88.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other Evergy news, SVP Heather A. Humphrey sold 3,347 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,076,463.20. This represents a 8.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $550,742.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,993,132.75. The trade was a 21.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,724 shares of company stock worth $3,777,059 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $62.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.97, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Evergy, Inc. has a one year low of $48.04 and a one year high of $64.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.06 and a 200 day moving average of $57.41.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.16%.

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.