Manchester Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Manchester Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 83.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,099 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,110 shares during the quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WTRG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $154,176,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 587.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,472,000 after buying an additional 3,479,762 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth $128,137,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 1,572.4% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,271,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,212,000 after buying an additional 1,195,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 121.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,591,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,697,000 after buying an additional 873,990 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $37.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Essential Utilities Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.10 and a twelve month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus upgraded Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.80.

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.