Sanctuary Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 20,454 Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 20,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth $1,280,829,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $154,176,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 2nd quarter valued at about $92,467,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 611.4% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,744,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,450 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Essential Utilities

In other Essential Utilities news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $41.06 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.10 and a 52 week high of $42.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $11.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results 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. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The business had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.3606 per share. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WTRG. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of 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 upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Two research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

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.