Boston Trust Walden Corp Buys 80,102 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,624,985 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80,102 shares during the period. Essential Utilities makes up 0.8% of Boston Trust Walden Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $104,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.6% during the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 25,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after buying an additional 1,808 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 3.2% in the third quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 8,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Covea Finance boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 66.3% in the third quarter. Covea Finance now owns 109,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,365,000 after purchasing an additional 43,600 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 156.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 40,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 24,465 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,913,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $38.61 on Monday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $33.18 and a one year high of $42.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 0.81.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $476.97 million for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Northcoast Research upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. One research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.29.

About Essential Utilities

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.