Prospera Financial Services Inc Raises Stock Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its stake in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 28.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,189 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Evergy were worth $1,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 6,854.6% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,539,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,443,000 after buying an additional 2,502,493 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $112,464,000. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 781.4% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,326,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,182,000 after buying an additional 2,062,434 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 7,234.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,613,000 after buying an additional 1,282,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 38.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,683,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,089,000 after buying an additional 1,026,374 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EVRG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho started coverage on Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Evergy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised Evergy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 accessible through this link. Also, SVP Charles A. Caisley sold 9,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $550,742.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 33,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,993,132.75. The trade was a 21.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,724 shares of company stock valued at $3,777,059 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:EVRG opened at $64.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $14.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.74. Evergy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.04 and a 12-month high of $64.42. 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 (NYSE:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. Evergy’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.6675 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.46%.

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.