LPL Financial LLC Lowers Holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

LPL Financial LLC lowered its position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 163,785 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,653 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $10,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. National Pension Service purchased a new position in Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Evergy in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Sandy Spring Bank lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 5,983.3% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Evergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG opened at $66.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Evergy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.55 and a twelve month high of $70.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $66.79 and its 200 day moving average is $63.57. The company has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s payout ratio is currently 70.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Guggenheim raised Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Evergy has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $69.08.

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.