Engineers Gate Manager LP Trims Stock Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP cut its Essential Utilities stake by 62% in the second quarter, selling 42,201 shares and retaining 25,815 shares valued at approximately $989,000. Institutional investors collectively own 74.78% of the company.
• Essential Utilities reported quarterly EPS of $0.38, slightly above analyst expectations, while revenue of $530.85 million fell short of estimates but increased 3.1% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.3606 per share, equivalent to a $1.44 annualized payout and a 3.5% yield. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $43.75.

Engineers Gate Manager LP lowered its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 62.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,815 shares of the company's stock after selling 42,201 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP's holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $989,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth $1,280,829,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth $154,176,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth $134,247,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at $92,467,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 611.4% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,744,679 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499,450 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE WTRG opened at $41.02 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $36.10 and a 12 month high of $42.51. The company has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $40.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.34.

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

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th were given a $0.3606 dividend. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WTRG shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. 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 note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essential Utilities news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This trade represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essential Utilities Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc NYSE: WTRG is a regulated utility company that provides essential water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Its water operations include the treatment and distribution of drinking water, while its wastewater operations collect and treat sewage. The company's natural gas business distributes gas through regulated utility networks.

The company operates primarily through its Aqua and Peoples businesses.

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