Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Sold by NFJ Investment Group LLC

NFJ Investment Group LLC decreased its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,602 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,765 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $4,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ grew its stake 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 valued at $3,191,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 26,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.83. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About Essential Utilities

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.