12,749 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Bought by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 12,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter worth $94,251,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter worth $25,526,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,308,000 after purchasing an additional 519,933 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,924.2% during the 1st quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 285,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,278,000 after purchasing an additional 271,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wills Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter worth $6,139,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.17.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $41.24 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.82. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $514.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $462.70 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 27.62%.The company’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.80%.

Essential Utilities Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.