Royal Bank of Canada Sells 19,389 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 389,087 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,389 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.14% of Essential Utilities worth $14,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WTRG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $102,600,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Essential Utilities by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,061,135 shares of the company's stock worth $1,091,820,000 after buying an additional 2,245,256 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,726,215 shares of the company's stock worth $244,296,000 after buying an additional 1,597,672 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,355,000. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 74.6% during the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,593,053 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,860,000 after acquiring an additional 680,760 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:WTRG traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.53. The company had a trading volume of 583,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,468,712. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.85. The business's fifty day moving average is $39.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.97.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $783.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $713.80 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current 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.