DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Decreases Stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale decreased its holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 344,848 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,883 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.13% of Essential Utilities worth $12,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 152,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,636,000 after purchasing an additional 30,152 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 139,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,171,000 after acquiring an additional 15,009 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 17,553.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,425,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,156,000 after acquiring an additional 3,405,947 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $46,280,000. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 350.3% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 903,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,723,000 after purchasing an additional 702,760 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.40.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.33 on Monday. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.07 and a 12-month high of $41.78. The firm has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $434.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.76 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.16% and a net margin of 28.74%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. Research analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.3255 dividend. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,342 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $87,661.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 53,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,425.13. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essential Utilities Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.