Bank of New Hampshire Has $121,000 Position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Bank of New Hampshire grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,250 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $121,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WTRG. 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 valued at $8,096,000 after acquiring an additional 29,372 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in 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 worth $2,808,000 after buying an additional 39,643 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 9.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 34,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after buying an additional 3,104 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,168,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,698,000 after buying an additional 99,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth about $3,583,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total transaction of $207,073.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 57,756 shares in the company, valued at $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE WTRG traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $36.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,124,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,826,322. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.74 and a 200 day moving average of $35.72. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.07 and a twelve month high of $43.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

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

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.3071 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.23 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.13%.

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.