Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Purchases 53,107 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,189,930 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,107 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $47,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $154,176,000. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586,622 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 611.4% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,744,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,450 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,651.9% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,551,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Essential Utilities by 3,650.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,255,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221,746 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.95. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.10 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.82.

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

Essential Utilities Company 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.