Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $101.60 Million Stock Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 8.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,523,064 shares of the company’s stock after selling 224,208 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $101,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,833,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $530,641,000 after purchasing an additional 241,176 shares in the last quarter. 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Essential Utilities by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,233,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,197,000 after acquiring an additional 120,947 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Essential Utilities by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,539,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,163,000 after acquiring an additional 741,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 19.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

WTRG opened at $39.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.79. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The company has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00 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). Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The firm had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

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.