Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Stock Position Raised by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 720,312 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,221 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.25% of Essential Utilities worth $28,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. Essential Partners LLC raised its position in Essential Utilities by 29.9% in the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 5.3% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board grew its position in Essential Utilities by 4.0% during the third quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 8,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 10,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 9,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WTRG. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG opened at $43.53 on Monday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $44.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a $0.3606 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essential Utilities news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc is a regulated utility company that provides water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Through its Aqua and Peoples operations, the company owns and operates water and wastewater systems, natural gas distribution networks and related infrastructure. Its services include the treatment and delivery of drinking water, collection and treatment of wastewater, and the distribution of natural gas.

The company serves customers across several U.S.