Alliancebernstein L.P. Cuts Stock Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 307,890 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,176 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.13% of Evergy worth $18,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Evergy by 391.1% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,030,000 after purchasing an additional 77,398 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Evergy by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 273,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,948,000 after buying an additional 24,149 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Evergy in the third quarter worth approximately $202,000. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in Evergy by 22.1% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 5,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 11.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 71,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,460,000 after acquiring an additional 7,280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $69.08.

Evergy Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of EVRG opened at $64.36 on Tuesday. 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 1-year low of $49.55 and a 1-year high of $70.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $66.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.