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Investing.com - Jefferies raised its price target on Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) to $87.00 from $77.00 on Thursday, while maintaining a Buy rating on the utility company’s stock. The company, with a market capitalization of $17.91 billion, currently trades near its 52-week high of $78.18, having delivered an impressive 30.25% return year-to-date.
The price target increase reflects Evergy’s 7% outperformance against utility peers year-to-date, which Jefferies attributes to successful regulatory outcomes and progress with large customers. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears overvalued at current levels, trading at a P/E ratio of 21.24, though it maintains a solid 3.43% dividend yield with a 21-year track record of consecutive dividend increases.
Jefferies models a 7% earnings per share (EPS) compound annual growth rate for Evergy from 2025 to 2029, with additional upside potential from incremental large load customers, earned return on equity improvement, and balance sheet flexibility.
These factors support Evergy’s ability to return to its long-anticipated 6-8% EPS compound annual growth rate, which is expected to be announced with fourth quarter 2025 earnings.
The firm notes that third quarter 2025 results will focus on the large load customer pipeline, and while third quarter and full-year 2025 results may be impacted by light weather conditions, the long-term outlook remains positive.
In other recent news, Evergy reported its second-quarter earnings with an adjusted earnings per share of $0.82, which was below the forecasted $0.88. Revenue also fell short of expectations, coming in at $1.43 billion compared to the anticipated $1.44 billion. Despite these misses, Evergy reaffirmed its full-year EPS guidance and outlined ambitious growth and infrastructure plans. In related developments, Mizuho raised its price target for Evergy to $77, up from $74, following the earnings report, maintaining an Outperform rating for the company.
Additionally, UBS reiterated its Buy rating on Evergy, citing potential growth from data centers and suggesting that the company could increase its growth rate to 6-8% from the current 4-6% during its fourth-quarter update. Furthermore, TerraPower and Evergy, along with the Kansas Department of Commerce, signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the possibility of siting TerraPower’s Natrium reactor and energy storage system within Evergy’s Kansas service territory. This agreement aims to evaluate site-specific characteristics and the potential of Natrium technology to support Evergy’s customers.
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