18,307 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Acquired by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the first quarter worth $27,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. This represents 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WTRG. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $41.56 on Thursday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.10 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The firm has a market cap of $11.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $39.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

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

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a $0.3606 dividend. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

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.