Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Makes New Investment in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 98,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,762,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WTRG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 2.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,246,719,000 after acquiring an additional 838,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,591,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,321,000 after acquiring an additional 641,743 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 19.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 587.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,929,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,789,000 after purchasing an additional 427,169 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WTRG. Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group set a $41.00 price objective on Essential Utilities in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.40.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 1.5%

WTRG opened at $36.57 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.09. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.32 and a 52 week 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. The stock has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56 and a beta of 0.67.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The firm had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.