Gotham Asset Management LLC Has $36.22 Million Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 907,809 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 569,210 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned 0.32% of Essential Utilities worth $36,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,246,719,000 after buying an additional 838,450 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 25.5% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,057,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,306 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 2.7% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 5,637,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,997,000 after acquiring an additional 146,960 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 3.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,734,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,313,000 after acquiring an additional 173,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Essential Utilities by 587.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479,762 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:WTRG opened at $41.66 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.09. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.32 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The company has a market cap of $11.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $699.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTRG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays set a $38.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

Essential Utilities 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.