Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,601,633 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 27,641 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.58% of Essential Utilities worth $58,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,196,946 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,473,000 after acquiring an additional 32,548 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 7,728 shares of the company's stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 391,670 shares of the company's stock worth $14,220,000 after buying an additional 9,512 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1,009.4% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,144 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,059,000 after buying an additional 26,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGP Franklin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $440,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, April 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.50.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on WTRG
Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.6 %
Shares of NYSE WTRG traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.13. The stock had a trading volume of 115,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,452,399. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.01. The company has a market capitalization of $11.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.58, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.85. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.18 and a 1-year high of $41.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.
Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $604.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.77 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. On average, analysts predict that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.
Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.91%.
Essential Utilities Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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