First Manhattan CO. LLC. Sells 25,272 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• First Manhattan Co. LLC decreased its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. by 14.0%, selling 25,272 shares and holding 154,621 shares valued at approximately $6.1 million.
• Essential Utilities recently reported a $0.38 EPS for the quarter, exceeding estimates and showing an 18.5% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.3426 per share, reflecting a yield of 3.5% and a payout ratio of 58.80%.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lowered its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 154,621 shares of the company's stock after selling 25,272 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned about 0.06% of Essential Utilities worth $6,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WTRG. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $638,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the company's stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $5,268,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 160.7% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 103,689 shares of the company's stock worth $3,766,000 after purchasing an additional 63,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 27,451 shares of the company's stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 9,470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Essential Utilities stock traded up $0.31 on Friday, reaching $39.31. 1,321,516 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,859,282. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.61. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.18 and a twelve month high of $41.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.87, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.83.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.09. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $514.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. The business's revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is presently 58.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WTRG shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 31st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.50.

Essential Utilities Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.