Korea Investment CORP Grows Stock Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 107.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 281,248 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 145,919 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $11,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. HUB Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter worth about $213,000. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 23.7% during the third quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 6.1% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 578,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,076,000 after purchasing an additional 33,000 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 90.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 645,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,756,000 after purchasing an additional 305,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 819,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,688,000 after buying an additional 102,862 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 target price on Essential Utilities and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE WTRG opened at $39.79 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.06. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $36.32 and a one year high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $699.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.99%.

Essential Utilities Company 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.