Secure Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Secure Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 41.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,847 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,384 shares during the quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $1,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the 2nd quarter valued at about $102,347,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1,572.4% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,271,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,212,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,189 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,407,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,129,340,000 after acquiring an additional 693,988 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 851.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 717,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,541,000 after purchasing an additional 642,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 73.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,336,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,635,000 after purchasing an additional 564,799 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on WTRG. Barclays set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 2.0%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.89 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.58. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.18 and a 52 week high of $42.37. The stock has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 56.85%.

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.