Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Short Interest Down 31.0% in March

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 5,408,230 shares, a decline of 31.0% from the February 26th total of 7,835,006 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,196,974 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Essential Utilities

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 351.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 234,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,057,000 after acquiring an additional 182,301 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,306 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 99,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after purchasing an additional 28,329 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.4% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 966,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,571,000 after purchasing an additional 135,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,709,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,091,000 after purchasing an additional 29,904 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WTRG shares. Barclays set a $38.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WTRG traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $41.08. 1,219,613 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,030,520. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.21. The company has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.81. Essential Utilities has a 52-week low of $36.32 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $699.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.99%.

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.