Citigroup Inc. Lowers Holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Citigroup Inc. lessened its stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) by 36.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 110,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 62,635 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $5,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Balyasny Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,728,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,324,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,089,311,000 after buying an additional 633,910 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 1,699,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,331,000 after buying an additional 596,655 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 27,626,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,143,183,000 after buying an additional 535,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 3,972.9% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 524,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,828,000 after buying an additional 511,825 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.96% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essential Utilities news, CEO Chris Franklin purchased 37,245 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $40.70 per share, for a total transaction of $1,515,871.50. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,515,871.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $40.25 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.83 and a 200 day moving average of $45.26. The company has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.50 and a 12-month high of $52.42.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 8th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $726.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $682.87 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 19.75% and a return on equity of 8.48%. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a $0.287 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 66.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on WTRG. StockNews.com upgraded Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price target on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Essential Utilities from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. UBS Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.38.

About Essential Utilities

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Essential Utilities, Inc is a holding company, which engages in providing water, wastewater and natural gas services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. The Regulated Water segment includes water and wastewater regulated utility companies.