The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 14,976 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Posted by Brian Himes on Sep 13th, 2026

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Free Report) by 5.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 289,905 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,976 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.10% of Essential Utilities worth $11,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE WTRG opened at $41.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.10 and a 52 week high of $42.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.28. The company has a market cap of $11.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (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%.Essential Utilities’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were paid a $0.3606 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WTRG. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a 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, September 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.75.

View Our Latest Research Report on WTRG

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

(Free Report)

Essential Utilities, Inc (NYSE: WTRG) is a regulated utility company that provides essential water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Its water operations include the treatment and distribution of drinking water, while its wastewater operations collect and treat sewage. The company’s natural gas business distributes gas through regulated utility networks.

The company operates primarily through its Aqua and Peoples businesses.