Ieq Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 138,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,300,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth $1,743,000. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at about $6,615,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at about $4,046,000. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth about $243,000. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth about $265,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on WTRG shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $40.18 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.3606 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.