South Dakota Investment Council Increases Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 71.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 150,968 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 63,062 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $6,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WTRG shares. Barclays upped their price target on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.80.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.7%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $40.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.88. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37. The company has a market cap of $11.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.52 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.3606 per share. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 69.54%.

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.