Raiffeisen Bank International AG Makes New Investment in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 564,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,436,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 75.0% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 98.9% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $36.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.00. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $783.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $713.80 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.30%.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.