Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 26,118 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 21.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 96,463 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,118 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $3,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,061,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,091,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,245,256 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,726,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597,672 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,317,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,526,000 after purchasing an additional 11,336 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,690,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,025,000 after purchasing an additional 236,250 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,331,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,985,000 after purchasing an additional 601,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.9%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $38.00 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.00, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.81. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $783.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $713.80 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Essential Utilities

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.