Rockland Trust Co. Reduces Position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Rockland Trust Co. decreased its position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,985 shares of the company’s stock after selling 825 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Evergy were worth $984,000 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. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in Evergy by 2.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 18,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 3.9% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $61.21 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.01. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.04 and a fifty-two week high of $65.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Evergy’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.36%. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 72.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised shares of Evergy to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Evergy news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total transaction of $3,029,513.13. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62.93. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.