Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 52.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,181 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 27,088 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Evergy were worth $4,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EVRG. Manning & Napier Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,183,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,994,000 after acquiring an additional 947,196 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Evergy by 41.3% during the 4th 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Evergy by 228.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,029,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,195,000 after purchasing an additional 715,892 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Evergy by 706.1% during the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 495,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,145,000 after purchasing an additional 434,425 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Evergy by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,548,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,214,000 after purchasing an additional 422,152 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $54.10 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.57. Evergy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.92 and a 52-week high of $63.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $51.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.03). Evergy had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 8.47%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.6425 per share. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Evergy’s payout ratio is 80.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Evergy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Evergy from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Guggenheim cut Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

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.