Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Sells 291 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,071 shares of the company’s stock after selling 291 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter valued at $94,251,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 74.6% during the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,593,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,860,000 after purchasing an additional 680,760 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter worth $25,526,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,331,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,985,000 after acquiring an additional 601,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $20,436,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WTRG shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of WTRG opened at $39.5940 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.18 and a 1-year high of $41.65.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $514.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $462.70 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 58.80%.

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.