Econ Financial Services Corp Buys New Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Econ Financial Services Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 63,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,551,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 83,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,191,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 4.4% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $38.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.72. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.