M&T Bank Corp Has $567,000 Stake in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• M&T Bank Corp cut its stake in Essential Utilities by 70.0% in Q4, selling 34,511 shares and retaining 14,790 shares valued at $567,000 per its 13F filing.
• Institutional investors now own about 74.78% of the company, with Vanguard, State Street, Nordea and JPMorgan among the largest holders that materially increased positions recently.
• Essential Utilities beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $0.47 (vs. $0.36) and revenue up 15.7%, declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 (annualized $1.37, ~3.6% yield), while analysts’ consensus remains a "Hold" with an average target of $43.20 despite an Argus upgrade to "strong-buy."

M&T Bank Corp decreased its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 70.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,790 shares of the company's stock after selling 34,511 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 838,450 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Essential Utilities by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,591,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $542,321,000 after purchasing an additional 641,743 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Essential Utilities by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $354,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,306 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 587.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $162,472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,929,549 shares of the company's stock valued at $156,789,000 after purchasing an additional 427,169 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG opened at $38.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $36.32 and a one year high of $42.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22 and a beta of 0.67. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $40.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.39.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.11. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.The business had revenue of $699.11 million for 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. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio is 61.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Argus upgraded Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Company 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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