Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Purchases 107,269 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 329,121 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 107,269 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $13,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,308,000 after buying an additional 519,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Northcoast Research upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective 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. Zacks Research upgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird downgraded Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.16 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.38 and a 12-month high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

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.