Covea Finance Grows Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Covea Finance lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 66.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,400 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,600 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $4,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 18,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC now owns 11,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 27.6% during the 1st quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 1.0% during the first quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 32,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,272,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 69,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

WTRG stock opened at $38.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.18 and a 12-month high of $42.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 0.81.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WTRG. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $47.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Zacks Research raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays set a $38.00 price objective on Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Baird R W downgraded Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, formerly known as Aqua America, is a publicly traded water and natural gas utility holding company. Through its regulated water and wastewater subsidiaries, the company provides essential water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. In addition, Essential Utilities delivers natural gas distribution services in Pennsylvania through its Peoples Gas subsidiary, offering integrated utility solutions under a unified corporate framework.

The company traces its roots to the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, founded in 1886 to serve growing communities outside Philadelphia.