Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) Shares Purchased by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,537 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,605 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp owned about 0.07% of Evergy worth $8,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manning & Napier Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,183,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,994,000 after purchasing an additional 947,196 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,942,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,594,000 after purchasing an additional 860,433 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Evergy by 228.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,029,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,195,000 after purchasing an additional 715,892 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Evergy by 706.1% during the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 495,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,145,000 after buying an additional 434,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Evergy by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,548,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,214,000 after acquiring an additional 422,152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Price Performance

NYSE:EVRG opened at $54.10 on Monday. Evergy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.92 and a 52-week high of $63.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $12.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $51.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.14.

Evergy (NYSE:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 8.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a $0.6425 dividend. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on EVRG shares. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Evergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on Evergy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. 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. Bank of America raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

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.