Insider Selling: Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Insider Sells $112,915.25 in Stock

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value of $112,915.25. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG opened at $40.44 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The stock has a market cap of $11.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Utilities

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,280,829,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,833,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $530,641,000 after buying an additional 241,176 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,586,622 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,233,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,197,000 after acquiring an additional 120,947 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,539,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,163,000 after acquiring an additional 741,587 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% 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.