Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Has $3.20 Million Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. lowered its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 18.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,507 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,568 shares during the quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $3,202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WTRG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $154,176,000. Amundi increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,023,000 after buying an additional 1,586,622 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 611.4% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,744,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499,450 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 1,651.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,551,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3,650.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,255,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221,746 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $39.33 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.10 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.68 and its 200 day moving average is $38.76. 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96 and a beta of 0.65.

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 the consensus estimate 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS 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.