Short Interest in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Grows By 9.3%

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,060,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the November 30th total of 8,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,880,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Evergy news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Evergy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Evergy by 6,854.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,539,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,443,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502,493 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 7,234.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,275 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Evergy by 131.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,138 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Evergy by 38.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,683,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Evergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,044,000. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Evergy to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.88.

Evergy Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $61.55 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.51. The stock has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. Evergy has a 52-week low of $48.04 and a 52-week high of $65.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. Evergy’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Evergy will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.6675 dividend. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.16%.

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.