Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 4,019,193 Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,019,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,176,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 31,466.7% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 43.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79 and a beta of 0.66. Essential Utilities Inc. has a one year low of $36.10 and a one year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus raised 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, two have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.80.

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.