20,325 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Acquired by Perigon Wealth Management LLC

Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 20,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $779,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WTRG. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 122.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.9% in 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 in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $40.40 on Wednesday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $38.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a $0.3606 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insider Activity at Essential Utilities

In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WTRG shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

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.