Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,003,032 shares of the company’s stock after selling 110,418 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.36% of Essential Utilities worth $37,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SouthState Corp raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 834.7% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 701 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. National Pension Service grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 101.8% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.1%

WTRG opened at $37.19 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43 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 $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.The firm had revenue of $476.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $472.40 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 56.85%.

Essential Utilities 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.