49,877 Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Bought by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,411 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,877 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $3,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth approximately $3,095,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 13.4% in the second quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 465,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,841,000 after purchasing an additional 54,865 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 17.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 810,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,032,000 after purchasing an additional 118,543 shares during the last quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 114.4% in the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 137,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,283,000 after purchasing an additional 73,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 9.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,473,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,343,000 after purchasing an additional 132,566 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WTRG shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.75.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.5%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $44.93 on Thursday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.10 and a fifty-two week high of $46.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.65.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $508.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $450.44 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.36% and a net margin of 21.79%. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a $0.3606 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 72.36%.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc. is a regulated utility company that provides water and wastewater services through its Aqua operations and natural gas distribution through Peoples Natural Gas. Its services include treating and delivering drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and supplying natural gas to homes and businesses. The company traces its water utility roots to the Springfield Water Company, founded in Pennsylvania in 1886. It adopted the Essential Utilities name in 2020, following its acquisition of Peoples Natural Gas and the expansion of its business beyond water and wastewater services.