Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Takes $1.51 Million Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 39,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,173,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,308,000 after acquiring an additional 519,933 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This trade represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of WTRG opened at $41.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.65 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.46 and a 200 day moving average of $39.08. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.10 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The business had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

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

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.