Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 20.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,219 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,403 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at about $638,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $504,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,935,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,309,000 after buying an additional 656,136 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 15,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,000 after buying an additional 645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,119,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

WTRG stock opened at $37.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $41.78. The company has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.78.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $783.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $713.80 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.81% and a net margin of 27.17%. Essential Utilities’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WTRG. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

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.