Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 7,280 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 71,927 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,280 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $4,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Evergy by 38.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,683,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,089,000 after buying an additional 1,026,374 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Evergy by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,490,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,901,000 after acquiring an additional 552,455 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Evergy by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,848,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,650,000 after acquiring an additional 583,923 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in Evergy by 6,854.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,539,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,443,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Evergy by 42.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,135,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,392,000 after purchasing an additional 634,735 shares during the period. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EVRG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Evergy to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.88.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $61.91 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $62.08 and a 200 day moving average of $58.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $14.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.64. Evergy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.04 and a 52 week high of $65.47.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.6675 dividend. This is a boost from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.16%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other Evergy news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares in the company, valued at $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.