Sanctuary Advisors LLC Purchases 6,900 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 39.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,359 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,900 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $963,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fortem Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the third quarter worth $2,223,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,305,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,701,000 after purchasing an additional 82,456 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 74.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 20,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 8,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 52,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WTRG shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $36.36 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.93. The stock has a market cap of $9.98 billion, a PE ratio of 18.18, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.85. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.57 and a 52-week high of $41.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $435.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.95 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.00%.

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.