Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Stock Price

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $62.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

EVRG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Guggenheim raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.79.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $65.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.43. Evergy has a 1 year low of $49.55 and a 1 year high of $69.93.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. On average, equities analysts predict that Evergy will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Evergy by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 107,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,665,000 after buying an additional 6,509 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Evergy by 11.5% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 144,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,976,000 after acquiring an additional 14,876 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Evergy by 4.2% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 94,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,860,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Evergy by 7.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 278,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,251,000 after purchasing an additional 18,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Evergy by 96.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 4,616 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.