Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Stock: ProShare Advisors LLC Grows Stake

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 1.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 720,312 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,221 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $28,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. Vise Technologies Inc. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 68.4% in the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 47,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,878,000 after acquiring an additional 19,466 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC purchased a new position in Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $206,000. North Dakota State Investment Board raised its position in Essential Utilities by 4.0% during the third quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 8,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the period. Lynch Investment Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $109,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $232,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTRG has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Insider Transactions at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $43.53 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.43. The company has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $44.09.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3606 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.47%.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc is a regulated utility company that provides water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Through its Aqua and Peoples operations, the company owns and operates water and wastewater systems, natural gas distribution networks and related infrastructure. Its services include the treatment and delivery of drinking water, collection and treatment of wastewater, and the distribution of natural gas.

The company serves customers across several U.S.