Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $101.60 Million Stock Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon trimmed its Essential Utilities stake by 8.2% in Q1, but still held 2.52 million shares worth about $101.6 million.
• Essential Utilities shares were down 0.7% to $39.39, with the stock trading near its 52-week range and carrying a market value of about $11.17 billion.
• The company recently reported Q1 earnings of $0.83 per share, missing estimates, though revenue of $861.76 million beat expectations and rose 10% year over year; analysts currently rate the stock Moderate Buy with an average target of $43.80.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,523,064 shares of the company's stock after selling 224,208 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.89% of Essential Utilities worth $101,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth about $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% in the 1st 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 stake in Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company's stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company's stock worth $37,308,000 after acquiring an additional 519,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew 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 purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.7%

WTRG stock opened at $39.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.65. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.10 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.73 and a 200-day moving average of $38.79.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Argus raised Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.80.

About Essential Utilities

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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