Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Sells 965 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,451 shares of the company’s stock after selling 965 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Evergy were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EVRG. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Evergy by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,532,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,469,000 after acquiring an additional 288,619 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Evergy by 25.8% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,848,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,650,000 after purchasing an additional 583,923 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Evergy by 6,854.6% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,539,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,443,000 after buying an additional 2,502,493 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 42.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,135,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,392,000 after buying an additional 634,735 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 131.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,004,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,294,000 after buying an additional 1,138,138 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total value of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $63.52 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $62.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.63. Evergy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.04 and a 12-month high of $65.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. 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 (NASDAQ:EVRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. This is a positive change from Evergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.