Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 611.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,744,679 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,499,450 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $70,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pekao Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,547,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 257,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,278,000 after purchasing an additional 44,855 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 99,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after purchasing an additional 28,329 shares during the last quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $1,432,000. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $958,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.80.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of WTRG opened at $37.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37. The stock has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.72.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The firm had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

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.