Haverford Trust Co Purchases Shares of 17,036 Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Haverford Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 17,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $653,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its position in Essential Utilities by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 83,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,191,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.3% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTRG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Insider Activity at Essential Utilities

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. This trade represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

WTRG stock opened at $40.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.97. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.3606 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.47%.

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.