Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 20,360 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 631,393 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,360 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $25,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at about $154,176,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,023,000 after buying an additional 1,586,622 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 611.4% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,744,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499,450 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 1,651.9% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,551,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 3,650.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,255,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.80.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.7%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $39.39 on Tuesday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $36.10 and a one year high of $42.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.73 and its 200 day moving average is $38.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.Essential Utilities’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

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.