Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Makes New Investment in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 236,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,049,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 83,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,191,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. Essential Partners LLC lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 29.9% in the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $40.18 on Monday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.08 and a 200-day moving average of $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. The stock 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The firm had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.3606 dividend. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

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.