Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Has $51.63 Million Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 1,499.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,282,008 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,201,879 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.45% of Essential Utilities worth $51,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth about $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 122.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,308,000 after purchasing an additional 519,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 4.9% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $39.61 on Tuesday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.10 and a 12 month high of $42.37. The company has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $37.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WTRG. Barclays increased their price target on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.80.

Essential Utilities 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.