Covea Finance Raises Stock Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Covea Finance raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 66.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 109,400 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 43,600 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $4,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WTRG. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 834.7% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 701 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 27.6% in the first quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 39.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $38.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 0.81. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.18 and a 1-year high of $42.37. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 28.09% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $472.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTRG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities 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.