California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 157,556 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 20.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 608,797 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157,556 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.21% of Essential Utilities worth $24,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WTRG. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 111.1% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTRG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.80.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $39.45 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.80. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37. The company has a market cap of $11.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 0.65. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $782.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. Essential Utilities’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.