Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Acquires 5,601 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 11.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 52,602 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,601 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $2,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EVRG. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 1,038.7% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,612,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,557,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294,967 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Evergy during the fourth quarter worth $89,832,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,757,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,605,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399,199 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,183,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,994,000 after purchasing an additional 947,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Evergy by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,942,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,594,000 after purchasing an additional 860,433 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on EVRG. Bank of America upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on Evergy in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Evergy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.83.

Evergy Stock Performance

NYSE EVRG traded up $0.23 on Tuesday, reaching $53.28. 1,672,169 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,395,557. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.92 and a fifty-two week high of $61.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.00.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 12.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.6425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.82%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.17%.

Evergy Company 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.