Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Sold by ABC Arbitrage SA

Key Points

• ABC Arbitrage SA cut its stake in Essential Utilities by 28.9% in the first quarter, selling 46,423 shares and leaving it with 113,982 shares valued at about $4.59 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other investors holding about 74.78% of the company’s stock, and several firms recently increased their positions significantly.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans positive: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average price target of $43.40, while UBS recently raised its target to $46 and Argus issued a strong-buy rating.

ABC Arbitrage SA lowered its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 28.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 113,982 shares of the company's stock after selling 46,423 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA's holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $4,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth approximately $154,176,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company's stock valued at $243,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,586,622 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in 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. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1,651.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,551,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 3,650.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,255,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on WTRG shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.40.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of WTRG opened at $38.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.10 and a 12 month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The company had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. Essential Utilities's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

About Essential Utilities

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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