Cullen Capital Management LLC Invests $728,000 in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Cullen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 19,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $508,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 4.9% during the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 3.0%

NYSE WTRG opened at $41.38 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $11.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.64. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.10 and a 12 month high of $42.37.

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 company had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.3606 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. 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. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 73.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WTRG. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.