Synergy Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• Synergy Asset Management cut its stake in Essential Utilities by 65.9% in Q4, selling 154,355 shares and leaving 79,824 shares worth about $3.06 million.
• Other institutional activity was mixed but large—JPMorgan boosted its holding by 587.6% to 4,071,929 shares (~$162.5M) and institutions/hedge funds now own about 74.78% of the stock.
• Essential Utilities beat quarterly expectations (EPS $0.47 vs. $0.36; revenue $699.11M, up 15.7% YoY) and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.3426/share (annualized $1.37, ~3.4% yield; ex-dividend May 12).

Synergy Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 65.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,824 shares of the company's stock after selling 154,355 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC's holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $3,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WTRG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 587.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $162,472,000 after acquiring an additional 3,479,762 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the third quarter worth about $128,137,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 2nd quarter worth about $102,347,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,572.4% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,271,201 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,189 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $40.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.45 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.80. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.32 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.16.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $699.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.Essential Utilities's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is presently 61.99%.

Essential Utilities 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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