Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Bought by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,233,715 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120,947 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.85% of Essential Utilities worth $200,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,246,719,000 after acquiring an additional 838,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Essential Utilities by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,591,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,321,000 after acquiring an additional 641,743 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Essential Utilities by 19.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Essential Utilities by 19.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Essential Utilities by 587.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,472,000 after acquiring an additional 3,479,762 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.06 on Wednesday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $36.10 and a one year high of $42.37. The company has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.97.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Two equities 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.80.

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.