Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,080,000 shares, an increase of 8.3% from the February 13th total of 1,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Evergy Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE EVRG opened at $60.53 on Friday. Evergy has a twelve month low of $54.12 and a twelve month high of $73.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.57, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.74.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 24th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.08. Evergy had a net margin of 12.85% and a return on equity of 9.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $956.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Evergy will post 3.65 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.6125 per share. This represents a $2.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 8th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on EVRG. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Evergy from $69.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Credit Suisse Group lowered shares of Evergy from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 29th. TheStreet lowered shares of Evergy from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Kevin E. Bryant sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.81, for a total transaction of $1,345,725.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 32,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,973,311.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EVRG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 201,851.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 93,428,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,879,477,000 after acquiring an additional 93,382,579 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 984.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,150,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,235,000 after acquiring an additional 2,859,476 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 377.8% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,793,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,895,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418,528 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,874,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $948,151,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 248.0% during the 3rd quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 1,200,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,301,000 after acquiring an additional 855,407 shares in the last quarter. 83.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Evergy

(Get Rating)

Evergy, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of electricity through its subsidiaries. It focuses on the regulation of electric utilities and development of electric transmission projects. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Kansas City, MO.