Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 1,499,450 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 611.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,744,679 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,499,450 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.62% of Essential Utilities worth $70,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 31,466.7% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 947 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus upgraded Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.80.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.72. The stock has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 0.66. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued 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 return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.