Mizuho Securities USA LLC Increases Stock Position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 46.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,797 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,885 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $1,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Evergy by 391.1% in 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 during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 84.6% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Evergy during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Evergy by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 997,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,806,000 after acquiring an additional 224,679 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Evergy by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 945,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,609,000 after acquiring an additional 239,599 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on EVRG. Guggenheim raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.36.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $66.17 on Wednesday. Evergy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.55 and a 12 month high of $69.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $65.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.19.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.45%.

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.