Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Invests $311,000 in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,061,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,091,820,000 after acquiring an additional 2,245,256 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,134,000 after purchasing an additional 972,803 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,305,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,701,000 after purchasing an additional 82,456 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Essential Utilities by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,731,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,190,000 after buying an additional 175,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 4.2% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,531,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,632,000 after buying an additional 100,990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WTRG. UBS Group decreased their price target on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $38.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.79. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $41.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $604.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $698.77 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 59.91%.

About Essential Utilities

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.