Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Buys Shares of 13,298 Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,298 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $526,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,061,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,091,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,245,256 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,726,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597,672 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,317,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $156,526,000 after buying an additional 11,336 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,690,116 shares of the company's stock valued at $134,025,000 after buying an additional 236,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,331,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $120,985,000 after buying an additional 601,026 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of WTRG stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,735,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,541,958. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.18 and a 52-week high of $41.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.23. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.81% and a net margin of 27.17%. The business had revenue of $783.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $713.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Essential Utilities's revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTRG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Essential Utilities from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

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.