SG Americas Securities LLC Decreases Stake in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 98.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,901 shares of the company’s stock after selling 909,645 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its position in shares of Evergy by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 16,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at $257,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Evergy by 102.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 60,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,729,000 after buying an additional 30,563 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Evergy by 84.6% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $66.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.51. The stock has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. Evergy Inc. has a one year low of $52.10 and a one year high of $70.36.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.87% and a return on equity of 8.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Evergy from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Evergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Evergy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.19.

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.