Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC Acquires 123,786 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. by 6.1%, acquiring an additional 123,786 shares during the first quarter.
• Essential Utilities reported a quarterly EPS of $0.38, exceeding estimates, with an 18.5% year-over-year revenue increase, totaling $514.91 million.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.3426 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.5%, effective September 2nd.

Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,166,797 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 123,786 shares during the period. Essential Utilities makes up 1.3% of Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC owned about 0.79% of Essential Utilities worth $85,653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter worth $33,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 950 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WTRG shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of WTRG opened at $39.5940 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.76 and a 200 day moving average of $38.30. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.65. The firm has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.73.

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

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.3426 dividend. This is an increase from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is 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.

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