Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Grows Holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 173,164 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,131 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.06% of Essential Utilities worth $6,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WTRG. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 92.8% during the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 148,009 shares of the company's stock worth $5,529,000 after buying an additional 71,222 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company's stock worth $247,134,000 after buying an additional 972,803 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $638,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 953,984 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,795,000 after buying an additional 237,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $2,119,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on WTRG. StockNews.com upgraded Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.65. 326,230 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,450,283. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $39.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.55. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.78.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $604.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.77 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is 59.91%.

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.