Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 11,622 Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $422,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 95,426 shares of the company's stock worth $3,562,000 after buying an additional 3,987 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,016,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 134.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,560 shares of the company's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 51,561 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTRG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Essential Utilities from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $43.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WTRG traded up $0.55 during trading on Monday, reaching $36.03. 1,429,815 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,522,777. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.87. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $36.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.43. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.18 and a 12-month high of $41.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $435.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.95 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. Essential Utilities's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.00%.

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.