First Trust Advisors LP Trims Stock Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

First Trust Advisors LP cut its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 53.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,911,611 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,231,098 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $76,981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the 1st 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. raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,308,000 after purchasing an additional 519,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 4.9% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $39.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.10 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.88 and a 200-day moving average of $38.82.

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

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.