Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Shares Bought by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,542 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 863 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its stake in Evergy by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 11,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Evergy by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

EVRG opened at $66.30 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.67. Evergy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.55 and a 12-month high of $69.93. 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 firm has a market cap of $15.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.11). Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 70.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EVRG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.79.

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.