Friedenthal Financial Grows Stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Friedenthal Financial raised its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 3,518.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,702 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 23,047 shares during the quarter. Friedenthal Financial's holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $937,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Community Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 23,928 shares of the company's stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 29,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,170,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 26,251 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,038,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,627 shares of the company's stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 2,117 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WTRG. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $37.35 on Thursday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $41.78. The stock has a market cap of $10.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.19 and a 200 day moving average of $37.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $783.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $713.80 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.17% and a return on equity of 9.81%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Essential Utilities

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.

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