National Bank of Canada FI Increases Stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 339,685 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,556 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Evergy were worth $20,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Evergy by 131.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,138 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.8% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 40,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Evergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $362,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Evergy by 391.1% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,030,000 after purchasing an additional 77,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its holdings in Evergy by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 7,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $69.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $66.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.54. The company has a market capitalization of $15.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52. Evergy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.55 and a 1-year high of $70.30.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.11). Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EVRG shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Evergy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $69.08.

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.