Kansas City, Missouri-based Evergy, Inc. (EVRG) engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the United States. With a market cap of $13.5 billion, Evergy serves residences, commercial firms, industries, municipalities, and other electric utilities.
Shares of the utilities major have underperformed the broader market over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks, EVRG has gained 2.6% compared to the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 28.1% rally. In 2024, EVRG stock is up 10.8%, lagging behind SPX’s 17.3% returns on a YTD basis.
Narrowing the focus, EVRG has also underperformed the S&P 500 Utilities Sector SPDR’s (XLU) 17.8% returns over the past 52 weeks and 18.1% gains on a YTD basis.
Despite lagging behind the broader market over the past year, Evergy has recently shown a notable uptick, with its shares climbing 8.3% over the past month. On Aug. 1, EVRG stock surged by 3% following the restoration of power to nearly 70% of the 117,000 customers affected by the Jul. 31 night’s storms.
However, EVRG saw a marginal decline after the release of its Q2 earnings report on Aug. 9. Although the company reported a 15.4% increase in EPS, it fell short of consensus estimates by 9.1%.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect Evergy to report an EPS growth of 8.5% year over year to $3.84. The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It surpassed Wall Street’s EPS estimates in one of the past four quarters while missing on three other occasions.
Among the 10 analysts covering the EVRG stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” That’s based on four “Strong Buy” ratings and six “Holds.”
This configuration has been consistent over the past month.
On Aug. 13, Barclays analyst Nicholas Campanella maintained a “Buy” rating with a price target of $64.
The mean price target of $59 suggests an upside potential of 2% from current price levels. The Street-high target of $65 implies the stock could rally as much as 12.4%.
On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
