D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $1.19 Million Stock Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 116.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,064 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,736 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $1,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WTRG. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of 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 restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value 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 represents a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $40.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.90. The company has a market capitalization of $11.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.64. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.10 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Essential Utilities’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a $0.3606 dividend. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Essential Utilities 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.