Kingdom Financial Group LLC. Makes New $893,000 Investment in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 23,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position 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 buying an additional 3,479,762 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $128,137,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,572.4% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,271,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,189 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 121.8% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,591,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,697,000 after purchasing an additional 873,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,246,719,000 after purchasing an additional 838,450 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $37.00 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.08. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.32 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WTRG. Argus raised 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 report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.40.

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.