First National Corp MA ADV Sells 3,470 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

First National Corp MA ADV reduced its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,667 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,470 shares during the quarter. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $3,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 14.2% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 235,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,096,000 after purchasing an additional 29,372 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 94.0% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 81,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,808,000 after buying an additional 39,643 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 9.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 34,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 3,104 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,168,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $932,698,000 after buying an additional 99,560 shares during the period. Finally, Covea Finance increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 96,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,586,000 after buying an additional 48,000 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of WTRG opened at $36.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.62. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a one year low of $32.07 and a one year high of $45.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.69.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $479.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.50 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 24.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.3071 dividend. This represents a $1.23 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 66.13%.

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.