Atomi Financial Group Inc. Sells 427 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Atomi Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,973 shares of the company’s stock after selling 427 shares during the quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WTRG. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 95,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after acquiring an additional 3,987 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 18.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,500,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,002,000 after acquiring an additional 234,857 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 44.1% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 34,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,272,000 after acquiring an additional 10,437 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 60.5% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 49,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,858,000 after purchasing an additional 18,765 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth about $1,016,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $33.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $9.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.86. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.18 and a 12 month high of $41.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.58.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. The company had revenue of $435.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.3255 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Essential Utilities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.