Financial Counselors Inc. Cuts Stake in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Financial Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,954 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,468 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $3,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EVRG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 201,851.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 93,428,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,879,477,000 after purchasing an additional 93,382,579 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Evergy by 3,322.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,433,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $637,693,000 after buying an additional 10,128,549 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Evergy by 984.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,150,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,235,000 after buying an additional 2,859,476 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Evergy by 10.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,874,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $948,151,000 after buying an additional 1,356,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Group LLC lifted its position in Evergy by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,183,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,994,000 after buying an additional 947,196 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EVRG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Evergy from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on Evergy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on Evergy in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of Evergy stock opened at $51.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.82 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.89. Evergy, Inc. has a one year low of $46.92 and a one year high of $63.84.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.47% and a net margin of 13.28%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a $0.6425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $2.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.99%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.82%.

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.