HB Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 14,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Apella Capital LLC raised its position in Essential Utilities by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 8,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.4% in the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 18,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 104,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,157,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.6% in the second quarter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC now owns 11,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 69,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,576,000 after buying an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTRG has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $39.20 on Wednesday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.38 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.27 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.70.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 28.09% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.85%.

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.