GSA Capital Partners LLP Buys Shares of 23,277 Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 23,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at about $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 519,933 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of WTRG opened at $40.40 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.93. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Essential Utilities

In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.