Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC Acquires 17,457 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 369.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,184 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,457 shares during the period. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,407,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,129,340,000 after purchasing an additional 693,988 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Essential Utilities by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 5,637,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,997,000 after buying an additional 146,960 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,734,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,313,000 after buying an additional 173,319 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 4.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,488,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,578,000 after acquiring an additional 136,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the second quarter worth $102,347,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTRG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target (down previously from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $37.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.64. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.18 and a 52 week high of $42.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

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

Essential Utilities Company 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.