Kintayl Capital LP Buys Shares of 462,708 Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Kintayl Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 462,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,726,000. Essential Utilities comprises 7.0% of Kintayl Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WTRG. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the first quarter worth $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $40.74 on Wednesday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.10 and a 12-month high of $42.37. The company has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.64. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.02.

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

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.3606 per share. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WTRG. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value of $112,915.25. Following the transaction, the insider 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities 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.