Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Takes Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 80,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,093,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in 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 worth $508,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 519,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Essential Utilities from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $41.73 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.20.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $530.85 million for 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 firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This trade represents a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.