Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Invests $29.03 Million in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 756,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,034,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. owned approximately 0.27% of Essential Utilities at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WTRG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 587.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479,762 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the third quarter worth approximately $128,137,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,572.4% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,271,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,189 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 121.8% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,591,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,697,000 after purchasing an additional 873,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,246,719,000 after purchasing an additional 838,450 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Essential Utilities

Here are the key news stories impacting Essential Utilities this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts kept Essential Utilities at a consensus “Hold” rating, suggesting limited near-term conviction either way. Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research lowered its FY2026 EPS forecast for Essential Utilities to $2.10 from $2.24, signaling softer near-term earnings expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks also trimmed its Q4 2026 EPS estimate to $0.54 from $0.57, adding to the cautious tone on the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: The firm raised several longer-dated estimates, including Q1 2027 and FY2028, which suggests analysts still see earnings growth potential over time.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $36.94 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.00. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.32 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WTRG shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.80.

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.