Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Acquires 4,191 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,592 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,191 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Evergy were worth $2,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EVRG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,665,885 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,887,485,000 after purchasing an additional 221,086 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,660,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $348,430,000 after purchasing an additional 128,211 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Evergy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,637,257 shares of the company's stock valued at $346,063,000 after acquiring an additional 133,641 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Evergy by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,555,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $218,818,000 after acquiring an additional 130,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Evergy by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,434,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $211,376,000 after acquiring an additional 73,066 shares in the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on EVRG shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $78.00 price target on shares of Evergy and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $78.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Evergy from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $73.19.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of Evergy stock traded up $0.06 on Friday, reaching $67.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,957,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,022,101. The business's 50-day moving average price is $66.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $15.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.49.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Evergy's payout ratio is currently 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.