Kingdom Financial Group LLC. Invests $893,000 in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 23,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pekao Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth about $3,547,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 99,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after acquiring an additional 28,329 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 966,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,571,000 after acquiring an additional 135,899 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 257,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,278,000 after acquiring an additional 44,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,709,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,091,000 after acquiring an additional 29,904 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $37.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.95. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.32 and a twelve month high of $42.37. The company has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78 and a beta of 0.67.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WTRG. UBS Group set a $41.00 price objective on Essential Utilities in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.40.

About Essential Utilities

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.