Aberdeen Group plc Buys 154,062 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 83.2% in Q4, buying 154,062 shares to hold 339,233 shares (about $13.0M); institutional ownership stands around 74.8% and Goldman Sachs also significantly increased its position to 943,797 shares.
• Essential Utilities beat Quarter expectations with EPS of $0.47 versus $0.36 expected and revenue of $699.1M (+15.7% YoY) versus $611.6M expected.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 (annualized $1.37, ~3.4% yield, 61.99% payout ratio), while analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $43.20.

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 83.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 339,233 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 154,062 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.12% of Essential Utilities worth $13,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at about $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 7.8% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company's stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,308,000 after acquiring an additional 519,933 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 4.9% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company's stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE WTRG opened at $40.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.78. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $39.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.35. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.32 and a twelve month high of $42.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $699.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.91% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is currently 61.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WTRG shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Two 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 given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $43.20.

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.

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