HB Wealth Management LLC Acquires 552 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,758 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 235,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,096,000 after purchasing an additional 29,372 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 94.0% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 81,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,808,000 after purchasing an additional 39,643 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 9.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 34,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,168,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,698,000 after purchasing an additional 99,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covea Finance lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 96,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,586,000 after buying an additional 48,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $36.81 on Thursday. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.07 and a 1-year high of $45.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.81.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $479.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.50 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.26% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The business’s revenue was down 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3071 per share. This represents a $1.23 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 65.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.