Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) Shares Acquired by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 99.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,844 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,232 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Evergy were worth $4,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Manning & Napier Group LLC boosted its holdings in Evergy by 76.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Evergy by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,942,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,594,000 after buying an additional 860,433 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Evergy by 228.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,029,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,195,000 after buying an additional 715,892 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Evergy by 706.1% during the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 495,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,145,000 after buying an additional 434,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Evergy by 19.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,548,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,214,000 after buying an additional 422,152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EVRG shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Evergy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.00.

Evergy Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE EVRG traded down $0.06 on Thursday, reaching $52.42. 1,651,565 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,547,552. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.92 and a fifty-two week high of $63.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.31 and a 200 day moving average of $50.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.57.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.03). Evergy had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 8.47%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.6425 per share. This represents a $2.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.82%.

Evergy Profile

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.