2 weeks Ago By ABMN Staff
Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. ( NYSE:WTRG – Free Report ) by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC.
The institutional investor owned 1,500,150 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 234,857 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.55% of Essential Utilities worth $56,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WTRG. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 857.5% during the 1st quarter.
Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 246.0% in the fourth quarter.
Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc.
acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A.
acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets WTRG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.
00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.
00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.
00 price target on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.
00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.
00. Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.8 % WTRG opened at $38.
40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.
58 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $10.
51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.
85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.
02. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.
07 and a fifty-two week high of $41.78. Essential Utilities ( NYSE:WTRG – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th.
The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.
02). The business had revenue of $434.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.
76 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.16% and a net margin of 28.
74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis.
During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc.
will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year. Essential Utilities Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd.
Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This represents a $1.
30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.
31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 61.
61%. Insider Activity at Essential Utilities In related news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,342 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st.
The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $87,661.06.
Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 53,391 shares in the company, valued at $1,998,425.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website .
Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock. 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. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Essential Utilities Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Essential Utilities and related companies with MarketBeat.
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