Greenland Capital Management LP Acquires 31,074 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Greenland Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 228,920 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,074 shares during the period. Essential Utilities accounts for approximately 1.3% of Greenland Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Greenland Capital Management LP’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $8,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,690,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,025,000 after acquiring an additional 236,250 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $2,793,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 565,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,557,000 after buying an additional 38,439 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,317,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,526,000 after buying an additional 11,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,046,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,007,000 after buying an additional 49,044 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on WTRG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

WTRG opened at $38.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.83. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $41.78. The stock has a market cap of $10.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. The company had revenue of $604.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.77 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 59.91%.

About Essential Utilities

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.