Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Purchases 62,924 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 546,214 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,924 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned approximately 0.19% of Essential Utilities worth $20,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTRG. SouthState Corp boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 834.7% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 101.8% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WTRG shares. Northcoast Research set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.57.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $39.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.73. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.18 and a 52-week high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $476.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.85%.

Essential Utilities Profile

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.