Hilltop Holdings Inc. Invests $362,000 in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 51,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,751,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Evergy by 60.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 15,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $829,000 after buying an additional 5,844 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 47,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,537,000 after acquiring an additional 2,630 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 226.5% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 114,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,072,000 after acquiring an additional 79,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 24,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 2,599 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $62.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $61.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.47. Evergy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.04 and a twelve month high of $65.47.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EVRG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised shares of Evergy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Evergy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.88.

Insider Activity at Evergy

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.