Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 65,439 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 1,464.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 69,908 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,439 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $2,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 122.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,308,000 after purchasing an additional 519,933 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of WTRG opened at $39.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business has a fifty day moving average of $37.73 and a 200 day moving average of $38.79. The company has a market cap of $11.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.65. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.10 and a 52-week high of $42.37.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WTRG. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.80.

About Essential Utilities

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.