Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Stock Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its holdings in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,446 shares of the company’s stock after selling 934 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Evergy were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Evergy by 1,038.7% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,612,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,557,000 after buying an additional 3,294,967 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $89,832,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Evergy by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,757,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,605,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,199 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Evergy by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,942,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,594,000 after purchasing an additional 860,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Evergy by 135.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,492,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,913,000 after purchasing an additional 859,628 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $57.17. The stock had a trading volume of 390,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,176,596. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.41. Evergy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.92 and a 52 week high of $60.50. The company has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 12.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.6425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is 83.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Evergy from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Evergy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.83.

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.