Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 40.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 215,240 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,690 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.08% of Essential Utilities worth $8,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $237,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 76.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 3,614 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 10.4% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 139,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,181,000 after purchasing an additional 13,104 shares during the last quarter. Marex Group plc acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the second quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 5.0% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on WTRG. Baird R W cut Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.89 on Friday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.18 and a 12 month high of $42.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.58.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.The firm had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 56.85%.

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.