LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Acquires 1,700 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew its stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,492 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 6,854.6% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,539,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,443,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502,493 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 7,234.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,275 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Evergy by 131.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,138 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Evergy by 38.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,683,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,089,000 after buying an additional 1,026,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Evergy by 147.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,193,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,213,000 after buying an additional 711,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EVRG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.06.

Evergy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $63.16 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.07, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Evergy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.04 and a 12 month high of $65.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.27.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s payout ratio is 72.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62.93. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Company 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.