ELCO Management Co. LLC Sells 1,774 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

ELCO Management Co. LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,896 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,774 shares during the quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter valued at about $94,251,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,526,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Essential Utilities by 122.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,308,000 after buying an additional 519,933 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in Essential Utilities by 1,924.2% in the 1st quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 285,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,278,000 after buying an additional 271,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wills Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,139,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.57.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $40.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.73. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.18 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.79.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $514.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.70 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 27.62%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. Research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 58.80%.

Essential Utilities Company 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.