Invesco Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,690,116 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 236,250 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.34% of Essential Utilities worth $134,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 92.8% during the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 148,009 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,529,000 after buying an additional 71,222 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company's stock worth $247,134,000 after purchasing an additional 972,803 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth about $638,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 953,984 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,795,000 after buying an additional 237,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WTRG traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.91. 1,479,356 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,485,794. The business's 50-day moving average price is $38.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.85. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $41.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

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Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The company had revenue of $604.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $698.77 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WTRG. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Company 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.