Mint Tower Capital Management B.V. Makes New Investment in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Mint Tower Capital Management B.V. acquired a new position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 83,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,197,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 31,466.7% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 944 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.80.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 1.3%

WTRG stock opened at $37.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $10.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.82 and a beta of 0.66. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.10 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.37 and a 200-day moving average of $38.85.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

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.