Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 257,585 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,855 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.09% of Essential Utilities worth $10,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,246,719,000 after purchasing an additional 838,450 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,057,000 after buying an additional 1,822,306 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 5,637,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,997,000 after buying an additional 146,960 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,734,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,313,000 after acquiring an additional 173,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 587.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,472,000 after acquiring an additional 3,479,762 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays set a $38.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.67.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.5%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $40.15 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.32 and a 52 week high of $42.37. The company has a market capitalization of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.17 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.02.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.91% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $699.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.60 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 61.99%.

Essential Utilities 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.