Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Sold by Costello Asset Management INC

Key Points

• Costello Asset Management sharply reduced its stake in Essential Utilities, cutting holdings by 80.6% in the fourth quarter and selling 79,049 shares.
• Essential Utilities reported mixed quarterly results, beating revenue expectations at $861.76 million but missing EPS estimates with $0.83 versus $0.90 expected.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 per share, implying a 3.7% annualized yield, while analysts currently hold a consensus “Hold” rating with a $42.40 price target.

Costello Asset Management INC lessened its position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 80.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 19,054 shares of the company's stock after selling 79,049 shares during the quarter. Costello Asset Management INC's holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pekao Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,547,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 99,453 shares of the company's stock worth $3,968,000 after purchasing an additional 28,329 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 25.5% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company's stock worth $354,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,306 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 16.4% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 966,685 shares of the company's stock worth $38,571,000 after purchasing an additional 135,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 21.1% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 257,585 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,278,000 after purchasing an additional 44,855 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WTRG shares. UBS Group set a $41.00 target price on Essential Utilities in a research note on Thursday. Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.40.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $37.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $10.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 0.67. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.32 and a 52-week high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio is presently 69.54%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.