KCM Investment Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,946 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EVRG. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Evergy by 391.1% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,030,000 after buying an additional 77,398 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Evergy by 84.6% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 3,654 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Evergy by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 15,406.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 921,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,721,000 after purchasing an additional 915,603 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ EVRG opened at $66.18 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $66.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.60. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.55 and a fifty-two week high of $70.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.55.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 70.45%.

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.