Raymond James Trust N.A. Acquires 383 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,960 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 383 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 12.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 139,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,171,000 after buying an additional 15,009 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 350.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 903,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,723,000 after acquiring an additional 702,760 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 881,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,912,000 after purchasing an additional 21,804 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,500,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,002,000 after purchasing an additional 234,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 2nd quarter worth about $482,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WTRG. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $41.00 in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG opened at $40.05 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.57 and a 12-month high of $41.78. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.86.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The business had revenue of $435.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.00%.

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.