Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Purchased by Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC

Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,754,592 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 393,961 shares during the quarter. Essential Utilities makes up about 1.6% of Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $109,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WTRG. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in 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 worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 122.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,308,000 after purchasing an additional 519,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 4.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Northcoast Research raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays set a $38.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.06. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.32 and a 1-year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.91% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $699.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. Essential Utilities’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.99%.

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.