Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 128,211 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,660,930 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,211 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 2.46% of Evergy worth $348,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EVRG. FMR LLC grew its stake in Evergy by 131.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,294,000 after buying an additional 1,138,138 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Evergy by 2.8% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 40,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,489,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 1.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 990,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,401,000 after acquiring an additional 16,056 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 9,427.9% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 81,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,057,000 after acquiring an additional 80,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 12.9% during the third quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 237,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,696,000 after acquiring an additional 27,000 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on EVRG. Guggenheim raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $69.08.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $68.95 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $66.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.40. The company has a market capitalization of $15.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.55 and a fifty-two week high of $69.93. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.11). Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Research analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend 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.