Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG is John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s 8th Largest Position

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 405,450 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,475 shares during the quarter. Essential Utilities comprises approximately 2.1% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Essential Utilities worth $15,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WTRG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 587.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,472,000 after acquiring an additional 3,479,762 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the third quarter worth $128,137,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,572.4% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,271,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,212,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,189 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 121.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,591,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,697,000 after acquiring an additional 873,990 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,246,719,000 after purchasing an additional 838,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WTRG. UBS Group set a $41.00 target price on Essential Utilities in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Argus upgraded Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.40.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG opened at $37.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.79 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.16. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.32 and a 12-month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.54%.

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.