Wexford Capital LP Grows Stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Wexford Capital LP grew its position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 97,727 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,801 shares during the period. Evergy makes up 1.0% of Wexford Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Wexford Capital LP’s holdings in Evergy were worth $6,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EVRG. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 164.8% during the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 2,312,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,450 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Evergy by 15,406.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 921,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,721,000 after acquiring an additional 915,603 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Evergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,652,000. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in shares of Evergy by 3,216.6% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 880,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,211,000 after acquiring an additional 854,212 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Evergy during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,488,000. 87.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EVRG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Evergy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Evergy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.44.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of EVRG opened at $66.93 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $15.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.10 and a fifty-two week high of $70.36. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.98.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.6675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.