Legal & General Group Plc Takes Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,504,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,247,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $37,308,000 after buying an additional 519,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of WTRG opened at $40.52 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.10 and a 52-week high of $42.37. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.06. The stock has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.3606 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on WTRG. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

About Essential Utilities

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.