Cohen & Steers Inc. Sells 1,097,753 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Cohen & Steers Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 45.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,329,399 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,097,753 shares during the quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $81,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EVRG. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. National Pension Service purchased a new position in Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Sandy Spring Bank lifted its stake in Evergy by 5,983.3% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $66.52 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $66.94 and its 200 day moving average is $63.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Evergy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.55 and a 1-year high of $70.30.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.45%.

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.