Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 19,193 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 260,331 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,193 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $13,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the second quarter worth approximately $112,464,000. OLD Republic International Corp raised its stake in Evergy by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. OLD Republic International Corp now owns 830,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,339,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in Evergy by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 316,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,892,000 after acquiring an additional 31,985 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new stake in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,057,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Evergy by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,757,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,605,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399,199 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ann D. Murtlow sold 3,301 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.85, for a total value of $194,263.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,545.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EVRG. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Evergy from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Evergy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Evergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.33.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of Evergy stock traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.34. The company had a trading volume of 121,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,149,234. The stock has a market cap of $13.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.60. Evergy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $46.92 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.11.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 12.84%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.6425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.17%.

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.