Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Stock Position in Evergy Inc. $EVRG

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 152.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 108,759 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 65,660 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Evergy were worth $8,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EVRG. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in Evergy by 476.6% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,207,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,559,000 after acquiring an additional 998,400 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP raised its position in shares of Evergy by 321.1% in the fourth quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 854,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,960,000 after purchasing an additional 651,738 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 122.4% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 811,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,804,000 after buying an additional 446,400 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in Evergy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,644,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in Evergy by 147.8% in the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 137,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,967,000 after buying an additional 425,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EVRG has been the topic of several recent research reports. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Evergy in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on Evergy from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Evergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 target price on Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Evergy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.10.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In other Evergy news, Director Sandra Aj Lawrence sold 761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,960.80. The trade was a 31.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles A. Caisley sold 10,787 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 37,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,153,869.94. This represents a 22.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 12,748 shares of company stock worth $1,061,870 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $85.42 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.07. Evergy Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.48 and a twelve month high of $88.62. The company has a market capitalization of $19.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.66, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.54.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. Evergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Evergy Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.695 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Evergy’s payout ratio is 73.74%.

About Evergy

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.