Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Trims Stock Position in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. reduced its stake in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,208,356 shares of the company’s stock after selling 348,455 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned 0.53% of Evergy worth $63,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EVRG. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 20.5% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter worth $1,121,000. RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 586,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,596,000 after purchasing an additional 46,437 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 47.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,516,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,178,000 after purchasing an additional 487,322 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 85.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 41,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,144,000 after purchasing an additional 18,910 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Evergy from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, 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 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Evergy Trading Down 0.3 %

EVRG traded down $0.14 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $52.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 306,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,497,679. Evergy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.92 and a twelve month high of $63.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.6425 dividend. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.