Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Free Report) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 31,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,223,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,280,829,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $154,176,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth $134,247,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth $92,467,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,023,000 after buying an additional 1,586,622 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.
Essential Utilities Stock Performance
Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $41.73 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.10 and a 12 month high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.64.
Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.
Essential Utilities Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.3606 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Essential Utilities Profile
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.
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