Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 140,085 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,211 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $8,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,138,138 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Evergy by 15,406.4% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 921,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,721,000 after buying an additional 915,603 shares in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter worth $55,652,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Evergy by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,848,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,650,000 after acquiring an additional 583,923 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter worth $32,488,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $68.95 on Tuesday. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.55 and a fifty-two 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $66.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. Equities research analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EVRG. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.08.

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.