Jennison Associates LLC Grows Position in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,556,580 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 151,970 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.68% of Evergy worth $95,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Evergy by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,778 shares of the company's stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 47.1% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 531 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of Evergy by 2.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,751 shares of the company's stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 2.5% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Evergy by 1.2% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 18,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,138,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on EVRG shares. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Guggenheim raised Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Evergy from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $68.50 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.36.

Evergy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EVRG traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $65.21. 1,044,561 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,777,442. The firm has a market cap of $15.00 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.66. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.04 and a fifty-two week high of $65.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.21.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. Evergy's quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

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.