Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 128,211 Shares of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,660,930 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 128,211 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 2.46% of Evergy worth $348,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EVRG. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Evergy by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the company's stock worth $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 6,248 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Evergy by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 32,307 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 5,681 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in Evergy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,040,565 shares of the company's stock worth $64,047,000 after purchasing an additional 8,580 shares during the last quarter. Hartree Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Evergy during the 4th quarter worth about $1,477,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Evergy by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 36,857 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,267,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim upgraded Evergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Evergy from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock 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, March 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Evergy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $69.08.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of Evergy stock traded down $3.03 on Friday, reaching $66.18. The stock had a trading volume of 4,851,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,917,072. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.55. The business's 50-day moving average price is $66.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.58. The stock has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.52. Evergy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.55 and a fifty-two week high of $70.30.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Evergy had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 14.77%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Evergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.6675 dividend. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Evergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.45%.

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.