Allianz Asset Management GmbH Cuts Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Allianz Asset Management GmbH lowered its stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,531,560 shares of the company’s stock after selling 115,586 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned about 0.55% of Essential Utilities worth $61,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,347,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 25.5% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,306 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,572.4% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,271,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,189 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,407,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,129,340,000 after purchasing an additional 693,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 851.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 717,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,541,000 after purchasing an additional 642,277 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Barclays set a $38.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.29.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.88. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.58 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $476.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.85%.

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.