65,916 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Bought by Energy Income Partners LLC

Energy Income Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 65,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,525,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $1,430,000. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at about $638,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,539,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,163,000 after buying an additional 741,587 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth about $3,566,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 9.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,473,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,343,000 after acquiring an additional 132,566 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

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

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.3606 per share. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 73.47%.

Insider Activity at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.