Stephens Inc. AR Sells 28,013 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Stephens Inc. AR lowered its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 45.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,043 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,013 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $1,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,308,000 after acquiring an additional 519,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.9% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.86 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 0.81. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $33.38 and a one year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 28.09% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Monday, December 29th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Company 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.