23,277 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Acquired by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 23,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 83,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,191,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG opened at $40.40 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.93. The firm has a market cap of $11.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.64. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.10 and a 12-month high of $42.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.3606 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

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.