BMO Capital Markets Begins Coverage on Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG)

BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $78.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $71.50.

Evergy Stock Down 0.9%

EVRG opened at $64.76 on Tuesday. Evergy has a twelve month low of $52.10 and a twelve month high of $70.36. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $67.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.84. The company has a market cap of $14.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Evergy will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.45%.

Institutional Trading of Evergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. National Pension Service acquired a new stake in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC acquired a new stake in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

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.