Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Purchased by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,822,306 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 3.20% of Essential Utilities worth $354,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 575,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,963,000 after buying an additional 31,606 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the third quarter worth $271,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 276,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,041,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the third quarter valued at $136,000. Finally, Ledgewood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at $208,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 target price on Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $39.13 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.68. The stock has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 0.81. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.18 and a 12-month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $476.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.Essential Utilities’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 56.85%.

Essential Utilities Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, formerly known as Aqua America, is a publicly traded water and natural gas utility holding company. Through its regulated water and wastewater subsidiaries, the company provides essential water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. In addition, Essential Utilities delivers natural gas distribution services in Pennsylvania through its Peoples Gas subsidiary, offering integrated utility solutions under a unified corporate framework.

The company traces its roots to the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, founded in 1886 to serve growing communities outside Philadelphia.