M&T Bank Corp Has $567,000 Stock Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

M&T Bank Corp lessened its position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 70.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,790 shares of the company’s stock after selling 34,511 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 104,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,157,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.3% in the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 13,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 1.7% in the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 17,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 43.6% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGP Franklin LLC increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 0.9% in the third quarter. AGP Franklin LLC now owns 38,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Argus upgraded Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.20.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE WTRG opened at $38.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.39. The company has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.22 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.32 and a 12 month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.11. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.The company had revenue of $699.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 61.99%.

About Essential Utilities

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.