Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Bought by Citigroup Inc.

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 39.8% in Q3 to 99,453 shares (worth $3.97M); other institutions also added exposure — notably JPMorgan increased its position by 587.6% to 4,071,929 shares — and institutional investors now own 74.78% of the stock.
• Essential Utilities beat estimates with quarterly EPS of $0.47 versus $0.36 expected and revenue of $699.11M (vs. $611.6M), a 15.7% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 (annualized $1.37) for a yield of 3.4%; analysts have a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $43.20 while the stock trades near $40.33 (52-week range $36.32–$42.37).

Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,453 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,329 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.'s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $3,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,246,719,000 after buying an additional 838,450 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 25.5% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $354,057,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,306 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.7% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 5,637,022 shares of the company's stock valued at $218,997,000 after acquiring an additional 146,960 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,734,532 shares of the company's stock worth $175,313,000 after acquiring an additional 173,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 587.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company's stock worth $162,472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479,762 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Essential Utilities Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of WTRG opened at $40.33 on Thursday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.32 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The company has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

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

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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