Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 343,356 shares of the company's stock after selling 58,141 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.13% of Essential Utilities worth $12,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WTRG. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 43.3% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 17,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 5,432 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 97,714 shares of the company's stock worth $3,781,000 after acquiring an additional 3,501 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Essential Utilities by 15.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 46,753 shares of the company's stock worth $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 6,344 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 19.9% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 244,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,446,000 after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.50.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on WTRG
Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.8 %
Shares of WTRG stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $40.47. 258,091 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,481,103. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.80. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.18 and a 52-week 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. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $38.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.84.
Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $604.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.77 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Essential Utilities Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.91%.
About Essential Utilities
(
Free Report)
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.
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