Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Stake Lowered by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $4,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. SouthState Corp increased its position in 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 period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Bfsg LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 39.2% during the second quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Essential Utilities by 168.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Baird R W lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Barclays set a $38.00 price target on Essential Utilities and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $38.32 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The firm has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.61. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.The business had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.85%.

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.