Ground Swell Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 9,741 Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $798,000. Evergy accounts for approximately 1.6% of Ground Swell Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EVRG. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Evergy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $298,000. Welch Group LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy in the 1st quarter valued at $213,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Evergy in the first quarter valued at $958,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in Evergy by 30.4% in the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 8,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,932 shares during the period. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Evergy by 18.2% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 price target on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Evergy from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.60.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other news, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $900,283.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total transaction of $63,398.91. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,680 shares in the company, valued at $139,960.80. This trade represents a 31.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,748 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,870. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $87.23 on Friday. Evergy Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.30 and a 52 week high of $87.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $82.67 and its 200-day moving average is $79.81.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.63%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Evergy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.340 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.695 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 73.74%.

Evergy Profile

Evergy, Inc is a regulated electric utility that generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers primarily across Kansas and western Missouri. The company provides core utility services including retail electric delivery, grid operations, customer service and outage restoration, operating under state regulatory frameworks. Evergy serves a mix of urban and rural communities, including portions of the Kansas City metropolitan area and other population centers in its service territory.

The company’s business activities span power generation, system planning, transmission and distribution infrastructure, and customer-facing programs such as energy efficiency and demand-side management.