Virtu Financial LLC Invests $692,000 in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 11,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Evergy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 170,300 shares of the company's stock worth $10,560,000 after buying an additional 1,272 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Evergy by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,859 shares of the company's stock worth $3,402,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in Evergy by 2.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,778 shares of the company's stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Evergy by 18.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 135,274 shares of the company's stock worth $8,388,000 after purchasing an additional 21,257 shares during the period. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Evergy by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,822,647 shares of the company's stock worth $113,022,000 after acquiring an additional 256,361 shares during the last quarter. 87.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on EVRG shares. UBS Group raised Evergy to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Evergy from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Evergy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Evergy from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Evergy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.88.

Evergy Stock Performance

Shares of EVRG traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $61.91. 1,820,357 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,046,830. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Evergy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.04 and a 12-month high of $65.47. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $62.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.64.

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. Evergy had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Evergy, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Evergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.6675 dividend. This is an increase from Evergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Evergy's payout ratio is presently 72.16%.

Insider Transactions at Evergy

In other Evergy news, EVP Kevin E. Bryant sold 48,141 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.93, for a total transaction of $3,029,513.13. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1 shares in the company, valued at $62.93. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Evergy 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.