Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Acquired by GW&K Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• GW&K Investment Management raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 14.4% in Q3, adding 102,862 shares to hold 819,249 shares valued at about $32.7 million, and overall about 74.78% of the company is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Essential Utilities beat expectations in its most recent quarter with EPS of $0.47 versus $0.36 expected and revenue of $699.1 million (up 15.7% year‑over‑year).
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 (annualized $1.37, yield ~3.5%, ex‑dividend May 12, payable June 1), while analysts maintain a consensus Hold rating and a $43.20 consensus price target.

GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 819,249 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 102,862 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC owned about 0.29% of Essential Utilities worth $32,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth about $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company's stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company's stock worth $1,173,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 122.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,308,000 after buying an additional 519,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 4.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company's stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WTRG. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 1.5%

WTRG stock opened at $39.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.91 and a 200-day moving average of $39.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.80. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $36.32 and a one year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $699.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.91% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The business's revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio is 61.99%.

Essential Utilities 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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