Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,699 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,193 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,168,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $932,698,000 after buying an additional 99,560 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,386,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,267,000 after buying an additional 24,991 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 6.1% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,918,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,182,000 after purchasing an additional 166,891 shares during the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 3.6% during the third quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,516,000 after purchasing an additional 67,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 4.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,768,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,715,000 after purchasing an additional 74,800 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

WTRG stock opened at $36.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.07 and a 1 year high of $44.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.72.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $479.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.50 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 24.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.3071 per share. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total transaction of $207,073.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 57,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.