BlackRock Inc. Purchases New Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 33,433,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,280,829,000. BlackRock Inc. owned about 11.79% of Essential Utilities as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $154,176,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth $92,467,000. Amundi boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company's stock worth $243,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586,622 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 611.4% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,744,679 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,450 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,651.9% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,551,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,971 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $40.47 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $39.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.3606 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a boost from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

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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