Sunbelt Securities Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 105.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,611 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,901 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Evergy by 16.9% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 78,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,958,000 after purchasing an additional 11,276 shares during the period. Mariner LLC raised its stake in Evergy by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 41,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,082,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Evergy during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,996,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 125,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,343,000 after buying an additional 27,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 753.3% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 434,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,019,000 after acquiring an additional 383,407 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on EVRG. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on Evergy in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.83.

Evergy Stock Performance

EVRG opened at $53.25 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.60. Evergy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.92 and a 1-year high of $61.84.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.6425 dividend. This represents a $2.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.17%.

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.