ABN Amro Investment Solutions Sells 71,145 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

ABN Amro Investment Solutions lowered its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 32.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,359 shares of the company’s stock after selling 71,145 shares during the quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions owned 0.05% of Essential Utilities worth $5,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,407,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,129,340,000 after acquiring an additional 693,988 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 25.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,306 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 5,637,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,997,000 after purchasing an additional 146,960 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Essential Utilities by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,734,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,313,000 after purchasing an additional 173,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Essential Utilities by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,488,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,578,000 after purchasing an additional 136,270 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WTRG shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Zacks Research raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $38.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.93. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.85 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50 and a beta of 0.81.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Essential Utilities’s 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.