Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Essential Utilities by 1.0% in Q4 to 30,935,627 shares, still owning about 10.93% of the company valued at roughly $1.19 billion.
• Essential Utilities beat expectations in its latest quarter, reporting $0.47 EPS vs. $0.36 estimate and revenue of $699.11M (up 15.7% year-over-year), with analysts forecasting about 2.25 EPS for the fiscal year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3426 (annualized $1.37) for a ~3.6% yield, while the consensus analyst rating remains a "Hold" (target $43.20) despite an Argus upgrade to "Strong Buy".

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,935,627 shares of the company's stock after selling 310,457 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.93% of Essential Utilities worth $1,186,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,591,999 shares of the company's stock worth $542,321,000 after buying an additional 641,743 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 25.5% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $354,057,000 after buying an additional 1,822,306 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 587.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $162,472,000 after buying an additional 3,479,762 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 12.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,929,549 shares of the company's stock valued at $156,789,000 after acquiring an additional 427,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the third quarter valued at about $128,137,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $38.06 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.32 and a 1-year high of $42.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.39. 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The company 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%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is presently 61.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Argus upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.20.

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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