Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 1,912,471 Shares of Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Evergy Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 99.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,577 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,912,471 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EVRG. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Evergy during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. National Pension Service bought a new stake in Evergy in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Colonial Trust Co SC bought a new stake in Evergy in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank boosted its stake in Evergy by 5,983.3% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $78.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays decreased their target price on Evergy from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $78.00 price target on Evergy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Evergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.19.

Evergy Price Performance

Evergy stock opened at $68.47 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.02, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.50. Evergy Inc. has a one year low of $52.10 and a one year high of $70.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.60.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Evergy had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 14.87%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Evergy Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. Evergy’s payout ratio is 70.26%.

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.