CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Increases Position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 127,530 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,339 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Evergy were worth $7,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,041,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,108,000 after acquiring an additional 316,197 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $68.50 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays decreased 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. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.06.

Evergy Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $61.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $62.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Evergy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.04 and a 1 year high of $65.47.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.6675 dividend. This is an increase from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Evergy

In other news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.