Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Purchased by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. by 19.2%, purchasing an additional 19,868 shares, raising their total holding to valued at $4.88 million.
• Essential Utilities reported earnings of $0.38 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.09, with a revenue increase of 18.5% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 per share, marking an increase from the previous dividend and representing an annual yield of 3.5%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 19.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,557 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,868 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $4,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the first quarter worth $33,000. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the first quarter worth $35,000. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 75.0% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 950 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTRG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research cut shares of Essential Utilities from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, August 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.50.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG traded down $0.32 on Wednesday, reaching $37.96. The company had a trading volume of 2,011,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,814,035. The company has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.19 and a 200-day moving average of $38.62. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $33.18 and a one year high of $41.65.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $514.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.70 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. Essential Utilities's revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is currently 58.80%.

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.