AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Lowers Stock Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc cut its stake in Essential Utilities by 10.5% in Q4 to 801,918 shares (0.28% ownership), selling 94,083 shares and leaving its holding valued at about $30.75 million.
• Essential Utilities topped quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.47 (vs. $0.36) and revenue of $699.11M (vs. $611.6M), with revenue up 15.7% year-over-year and analysts forecasting roughly $2.25 EPS for the year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 ($1.37 annualized) for a 3.5% yield, with an ex-dividend date of May 12 and payment on June 1.

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc cut its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 801,918 shares of the company's stock after selling 94,083 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc owned 0.28% of Essential Utilities worth $30,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pekao Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $3,547,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Essential Utilities by 351.4% in the third quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 234,179 shares of the company's stock worth $9,057,000 after buying an additional 182,301 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Essential Utilities by 39.8% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 99,453 shares of the company's stock worth $3,968,000 after buying an additional 28,329 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Essential Utilities by 25.5% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company's stock worth $354,057,000 after buying an additional 1,822,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.4% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 966,685 shares of the company's stock worth $38,571,000 after purchasing an additional 135,899 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Argus upgraded Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86 and a beta of 0.78. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.32 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $699.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio is presently 61.99%.

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.

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