Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Stock Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 14.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,969 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 371 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Covea Finance lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 90.7% during the 2nd quarter. Covea Finance now owns 65,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,444,000 after buying an additional 31,300 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 41.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 18.9% in the 2nd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 110,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,096,000 after purchasing an additional 17,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 6,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $38.81 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.54. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.18 and a twelve month high of $41.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $10.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.09. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The firm had revenue of $514.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.3426 dividend. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 58.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 31st. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.40.

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.