49,877 Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Bought by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 101,411 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,877 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $3,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at $1,280,829,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,119,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $502,595,000 after buying an additional 687,688 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth about $134,247,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,224.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,233,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,728,000 after buying an additional 2,989,455 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,881,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,049,000 after buying an additional 106,252 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $44.93 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.65. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $46.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $12.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.62.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $508.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $450.44 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.79% and a return on equity of 8.36%. Essential Utilities’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a $0.3606 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 72.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WTRG. UBS Group lowered their price target on Essential Utilities from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Essential Utilities from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Argus upped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.75.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc. is a regulated utility company that provides water and wastewater services through its Aqua operations and natural gas distribution through Peoples Natural Gas. Its services include treating and delivering drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and supplying natural gas to homes and businesses. The company traces its water utility roots to the Springfield Water Company, founded in Pennsylvania in 1886. It adopted the Essential Utilities name in 2020, following its acquisition of Peoples Natural Gas and the expansion of its business beyond water and wastewater services.