Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Shares Purchased by Lido Advisors LLC

Lido Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 44,212 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,106 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $1,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,129,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,315,141,000 after purchasing an additional 576,448 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,683,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,262,044,000 after purchasing an additional 229,596 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Essential Utilities by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,295,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,169,000 after purchasing an additional 149,565 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in Essential Utilities by 98,060.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 10,503,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,181,000 after purchasing an additional 10,492,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $206,493,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on WTRG. Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 28th. TheStreet downgraded Essential Utilities from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Friday, September 15th. Edward Jones upgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.25.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:WTRG opened at $35.42 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.36. The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.07 and a 52-week high of $49.89.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $411.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $455.20 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.52% and a net margin of 20.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3071 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 9th. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.33%.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.