181,511 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Bought by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 181,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,963,000. Essential Utilities comprises 0.3% of Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,246,719,000 after acquiring an additional 838,450 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,833,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $530,641,000 after acquiring an additional 241,176 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,586,622 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,233,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,197,000 after acquiring an additional 120,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,539,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,163,000 after purchasing an additional 741,587 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $36.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.77. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.10 and a twelve month high of $42.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTRG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.80.

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.