Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Invests $607,000 in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $607,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 727,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,011,000 after purchasing an additional 43,712 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 27,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,086,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter worth $680,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter worth $481,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 12.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,929,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,789,000 after buying an additional 427,169 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $41.66 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.32 and a twelve month high of $42.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WTRG. Barclays set a $38.00 target price on Essential Utilities and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

About Essential Utilities

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.