Boston Trust Walden Corp Sells 77,242 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Boston Trust Walden Corp lessened its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,481,448 shares of the company’s stock after selling 77,242 shares during the period. Essential Utilities makes up approximately 0.8% of Boston Trust Walden Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned 0.88% of Essential Utilities worth $99,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WTRG. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 31,466.7% during the 4th 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. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.40.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $39.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.76. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.Essential Utilities’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current 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.