Brandes Investment Partners LP Makes New $55.65 Million Investment in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Brandes Investment Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 904,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,652,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned approximately 0.39% of Evergy as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 278,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,251,000 after purchasing an additional 18,595 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 230.0% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 515,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,954,000 after purchasing an additional 14,383 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Evergy by 74.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 21,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after purchasing an additional 9,164 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Evergy Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ EVRG opened at $67.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62. Evergy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.55 and a 52-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’s 50 day moving average price is $64.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.69.

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

Evergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Evergy’s payout ratio is presently 70.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $59.00 to $68.50 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.42.

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.