Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 14,980 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,957 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,980 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $5,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EVRG. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in Evergy by 6,854.6% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,539,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,443,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502,493 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Evergy by 7,234.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 1,300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,275 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Evergy by 131.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,138 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Evergy by 38.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,683,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 147.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,193,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,213,000 after purchasing an additional 711,785 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on EVRG shares. Guggenheim upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.79.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of Evergy stock opened at $63.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $14.61 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.45 and a 200-day moving average of $60.53. Evergy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.04 and a 1-year high of $65.47.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. This is a boost from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is 72.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62.93. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Evergy Company 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.