Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 49.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,903 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,134 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $1,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,833,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $530,641,000 after buying an additional 241,176 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,023,000 after buying an additional 1,586,622 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,233,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,197,000 after buying an additional 120,947 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,539,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,163,000 after acquiring an additional 741,587 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,149,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,158,000 after acquiring an additional 662,334 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.76. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.10 and a twelve month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WTRG. UBS Group upped their price target on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.40.

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.