DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Boosts Position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 38.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 352,142 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 97,689 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.13% of Essential Utilities worth $13,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $206,493,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $52,964,000. Balyasny Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,728,000. Nuance Investments LLC purchased a new position in Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter worth $21,570,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,129,227 shares of the company's stock worth $1,315,141,000 after acquiring an additional 576,448 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of Essential Utilities stock traded up $0.43 on Tuesday, reaching $36.71. The stock had a trading volume of 1,417,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,795,235. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.07 and a 1 year high of $45.29. The company has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The business's 50 day moving average is $35.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $479.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.50 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.26% and a return on equity of 8.68%. Essential Utilities's quarterly revenue was down 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3071 per share. This is a boost from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In other Essential Utilities news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total transaction of $207,073.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 57,756 shares in the company, valued at $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Company 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.