Cohen & Steers Inc. Sells 1,097,753 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Cohen & Steers Inc. reduced its position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 45.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,329,399 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,097,753 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned approximately 0.58% of Evergy worth $81,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. WealthTrust Axiom LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 30,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after buying an additional 829 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in Evergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $567,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Evergy by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 13,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 4,746 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 277,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,058,000 after purchasing an additional 7,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 113,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,007,000 after purchasing an additional 2,608 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $66.52 on Monday. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.55 and a fifty-two week high of $70.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $66.94 and its 200 day moving average is $63.75. 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 company has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.