John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Buys 5,100 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 266,002 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,100 shares during the quarter. Essential Utilities comprises 1.5% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $9,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the first quarter valued at $33,000. National Pension Service lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 75.0% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 101.8% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.17.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of WTRG opened at $41.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.82. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.18 and a twelve month high of $41.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $514.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.70 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 58.80%.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.