Inspire Investing LLC Sells 549 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Inspire Investing LLC lowered its position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,295 shares of the company’s stock after selling 549 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $1,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Evergy by 47.1% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Evergy by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 7,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Evergy by 1.2% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 18,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EVRG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho assumed coverage on Evergy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of Evergy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total transaction 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 approximately $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $63.06 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.45 and its 200 day moving average is $60.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.04 and a fifty-two week high of $65.47.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s payout ratio is 72.16%.

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.