Sandy Spring Bank Purchases 718 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) by 5,983.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 730 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Evergy were worth $45,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its holdings in Evergy by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 11,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Evergy by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Evergy by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Evergy by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in Evergy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 7,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.24% of the company’s stock.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of EVRG stock opened at $67.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.08. 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 12 month low of $49.55 and a 12 month high of $69.93.

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

Evergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6675 per share. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Evergy’s dividend payout ratio is 70.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on EVRG shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Evergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Evergy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Evergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.36.

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.