Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Free Report) by 28.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,971,886 shares of the company’s stock after selling 782,706 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $75,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pekao Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $3,547,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 99,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after buying an additional 28,329 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 257,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,278,000 after buying an additional 44,855 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 966,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,571,000 after buying an additional 135,899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,432,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.80.
Essential Utilities Stock Performance
Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $36.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.95. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37.
Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Free Report) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Essential Utilities Company 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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