80,726 Shares in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Acquired by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 80,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,093,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WTRG. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTRG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essential Utilities news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $41.73 on Friday. 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 $11.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.20. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The business had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.3606 per share. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.