Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 26.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,634 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,616 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $1,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EVRG. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 531 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 18,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,138,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EVRG shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Evergy 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 transaction of $3,029,513.13. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62.93. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total transaction of $550,742.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,993,132.75. This represents a 21.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Evergy Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:EVRG opened at $65.00 on Friday. Evergy, Inc. has a one year low of $48.04 and a one year high of $65.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $14.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.09.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. Evergy’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s payout ratio is 72.16%.

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.