Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Buys 29,098 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,851,745 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,098 shares during the quarter. Evergy comprises about 1.4% of Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned about 0.81% of Evergy worth $113,975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 32.2% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 51,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,219,000 after acquiring an additional 12,657 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Evergy by 26.4% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 31,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,961,000 after acquiring an additional 6,616 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Evergy during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Evergy by 29.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 997,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,806,000 after buying an additional 224,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 131.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,294,000 after buying an additional 1,138,138 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EVRG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their target price on 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 upgraded shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.08.

Evergy Price Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $67.32 on Friday. Evergy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.55 and a 52-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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.25. The company has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is 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.