Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Value Income Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In Q1, US equities markets surged to new all-time highs, supported by a robust US economy. The fund’s Investor Class APFWX, Advisor Class APDWX, and Institutional Class APHWX returned 4.87%, 4.87%, and 4.98% respectively, in the quarter compared to a 10.56% return for the S&P 500 Index. The portfolio delivered a good total return in Q1 comprised of premium income and substantial capital appreciation, in line with the firm’s total return expectations. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the strategy to know its best picks in 2024.
Artisan Value Income Fund highlighted stocks like Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) one-month return was -3.89%, and its shares lost 10.41% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 5, 2024, Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) stock closed at $53.81 per share with a market capitalization of $12.344 billion.
Artisan Value Income Fund stated the following regarding Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“In Q1, we added two utilities to the portfolio: Alliant Energy and Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG). Evergy serves more than 1.7 million customers in Kansas and Missouri. In addition to the aforementioned dynamics weighing on utilities share prices, Evergy had two key rate cases in 2023, one in Kansas and the other in Missouri, that presented risk for investors. The Missouri case went better than expected, but the returns allowed by the Kansas regulator were punishingly low. Though Evergy operates in a subpar regulatory environment, the utility is a good operator, with strong customer satisfaction scores, below-average capex needs and a clean balance sheet. The regulatory environment may improve at some point, but even if it does not, Evergy trades for just 13X 2024 earnings, which is below average relative to its history and peers— and pays a dividend yielding 4.7%.”
A power line stretching across a sunbathed landscape with rural homes in the foreground.
Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 35 hedge fund portfolios held Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) at the end of the first quarter which was 39 in the previous quarter. For the first quarter of 2024, Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) delivered adjusted earnings of $124.7 million or $0.54 per share compared to $136.1 million or $0.59 per share in the first quarter of 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
