New York State Teachers Retirement System Raises Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• The New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. by 9.7% in Q2, bringing its total to approximately $10.25 million.
• Essential Utilities recently saw an upgrade from Wall Street analysts, with UBS Group raising its price target from $42 to $47 while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.3426 per share, reflecting a yield of 3.3% and indicating a positive trend in its dividends over time.

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 275,906 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,315 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.10% of Essential Utilities worth $10,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the first quarter worth $94,251,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the first quarter worth $25,526,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company's stock worth $37,308,000 after buying an additional 519,933 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,924.2% during the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 285,309 shares of the company's stock worth $11,278,000 after buying an additional 271,214 shares during the period. Finally, Wills Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the first quarter worth $6,139,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on WTRG shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Zacks Research lowered Essential Utilities from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.17.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $41.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.18 and a 12-month high of $41.70. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $39.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.65.

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

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.80%.

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.

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