Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Bought by Magnetar Financial LLC

Posted by George Bondi on Jun 17th, 2026

Magnetar Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Free Report) by 6,508.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,199,090 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,180,945 shares during the quarter. Essential Utilities comprises 0.5% of Magnetar Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $45,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 83,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,191,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.4% during the third quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 26,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.80.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG opened at $37.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.10 and a 52-week high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Profile

(Free Report)

Essential Utilities, Inc, formerly known as Aqua America, is a publicly traded water and natural gas utility holding company. Through its regulated water and wastewater subsidiaries, the company provides essential water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. In addition, Essential Utilities delivers natural gas distribution services in Pennsylvania through its Peoples Gas subsidiary, offering integrated utility solutions under a unified corporate framework.

The company traces its roots to the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, founded in 1886 to serve growing communities outside Philadelphia.