M&G Plc Invests $482,000 in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $482,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTRG. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 17,553.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,425,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,156,000 after buying an additional 3,405,947 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $97,288,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,280,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 271.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,225,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,785,000 after acquiring an additional 896,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,992,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,504,000 after acquiring an additional 823,495 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,342 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value of $87,661.06. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 53,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,998,425.13. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WTRG shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.40.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $39.46 on Wednesday. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.07 and a fifty-two week high of $41.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $10.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.83.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $434.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $442.76 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.16% and a net margin of 28.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be given a $0.3255 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 61.61%.

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.