Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 4,846 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 75,435 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,846 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Evergy were worth $4,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,532,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,469,000 after purchasing an additional 288,619 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Evergy by 25.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,848,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,650,000 after buying an additional 583,923 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,502,493 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Evergy by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,135,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,392,000 after buying an additional 634,735 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 131.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,138 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on EVRG. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho began coverage on Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.36.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $64.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.66. Evergy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.04 and a 52 week high of $65.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $62.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.08. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. Evergy’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total transaction of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.