Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Sells 598 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,840 shares of the company’s stock after selling 598 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,168,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $932,698,000 after purchasing an additional 99,560 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Essential Utilities by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,386,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,267,000 after acquiring an additional 24,991 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its position in Essential Utilities by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 3,069,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,641,000 after acquiring an additional 313,277 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Essential Utilities by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,918,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,182,000 after acquiring an additional 166,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Essential Utilities by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,516,000 after acquiring an additional 67,465 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Essential Utilities news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total transaction of $207,073.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,756 shares in the company, valued at $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total value of $207,073.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,023 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.56, for a total value of $73,960.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $488,368.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $37.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.80. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.07 and a fifty-two week high of $43.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.62.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $479.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.50 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 29.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.3071 dividend. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Company 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.