Boston Trust Walden Corp Buys 349,904 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 16.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,476,811 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 349,904 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned about 0.90% of Essential Utilities worth $97,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bfsg LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 22.1% in the first quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 24,652 shares of the company's stock worth $895,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,342 shares of the company's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.3% in the first quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 23,928 shares of the company's stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 19,527 shares of the company's stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Essential Utilities from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE WTRG traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.33. 3,830,493 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,523,413. The company has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.81. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $33.18 and a one year high of $41.78. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.65.

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

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.