Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 2,004 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 23.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,692 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,004 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Evergy by 391.1% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,030,000 after buying an additional 77,398 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Evergy by 13.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 307,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,304,000 after buying an additional 35,940 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Evergy by 60.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 44,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,332,000 after buying an additional 16,619 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Evergy by 34.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 945,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,609,000 after buying an additional 239,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 29.1% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 997,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,806,000 after purchasing an additional 224,679 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EVRG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.06.

Evergy Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $63.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.46 and a 200 day moving average of $60.35. Evergy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.04 and a 1 year high of $65.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

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

Evergy Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total transaction of $3,029,513.13. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares in the company, valued at $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.