Bank of New York Mellon Corp Buys 175,707 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,731,011 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 175,707 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.99% of Essential Utilities worth $99,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company's stock worth $247,134,000 after buying an additional 972,803 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,842,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,935,818 shares of the company's stock worth $70,309,000 after purchasing an additional 656,136 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 33.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 953,984 shares of the company's stock worth $36,795,000 after purchasing an additional 237,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the third quarter valued at $7,301,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.50.

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Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WTRG traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $38.52. The company had a trading volume of 1,505,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,563,300. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.82. 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. The company has a market cap of $10.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.79.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $604.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $698.77 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is 59.91%.

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.