Aristotle Capital Boston LLC Makes New Investment in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Aristotle Capital Boston LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 44.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 491,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,605,000 after purchasing an additional 151,395 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 398,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,903,000 after buying an additional 20,905 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 121.8% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,591,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,697,000 after buying an additional 873,990 shares during the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 100.6% during the third quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 265,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,589,000 after acquiring an additional 133,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Credit Agricole S A bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,432,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $41.66 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.09. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.32 and a 52 week high of $42.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 0.81.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.91% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $699.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTRG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 price target on Essential Utilities and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

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.