WealthTrust Axiom LLC Acquires New Stake in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Key Points

• WealthTrust Axiom LLC made a new investment of approximately $476,000 in Essential Utilities Inc. during Q1, acquiring 12,048 shares of the company.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on the company's stock, with UBS upgrading the target price to $47.00 and a recent downgrade from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen.
• Essential Utilities has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.3426 per share, reflecting a 3.5% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 58.80%.

WealthTrust Axiom LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 12,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $476,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the first quarter worth about $94,251,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 74.6% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,526,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,331,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $120,985,000 after acquiring an additional 601,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,436,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WTRG. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.50.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of WTRG stock traded down $0.12 on Friday, hitting $39.55. The stock had a trading volume of 2,721,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,072,225. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.18 and a twelve month high of $41.65. The firm has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.97, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.45.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $514.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $462.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is presently 58.80%.

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.