Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Increases Position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,085 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,880 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $2,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Evergy by 391.1% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,030,000 after acquiring an additional 77,398 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Evergy by 84.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 3,654 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Evergy by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 2,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Evergy by 15,406.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 921,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,721,000 after buying an additional 915,603 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on EVRG. Barclays upped their price target on Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.08.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $68.95 on Tuesday. Evergy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.55 and a 52-week high of $69.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.40.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.45%.

Evergy Profile

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.