118,200 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Acquired by Jupiter Topco LLC

Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 118,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,530,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 83,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,191,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.3% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Essential Utilities by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WTRG shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:WTRG opened at $41.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.05 and a beta of 0.64. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $36.10 and a one year high of $42.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.12.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.Essential Utilities’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.3606 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 73.47%.

Essential Utilities Company 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.