Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 98,029 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $6,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EVRG. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 31,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after buying an additional 2,495 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $385,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Evergy by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Evergy by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at $173,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.42.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $67.10 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.93. Evergy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.55 and a 12 month high of $69.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $15.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. Analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.45%.

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.