11,622 Shares in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Bought by Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WTRG. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,134,000 after acquiring an additional 972,803 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,305,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,701,000 after acquiring an additional 82,456 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,531,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,632,000 after acquiring an additional 100,990 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,154,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,088,000 after acquiring an additional 145,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,034,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,471,000 after acquiring an additional 10,560 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WTRG shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Essential Utilities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $43.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $35.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.55. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.18 and a 52-week high of $41.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.51.

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

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 65.00%.

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.