Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC Raises Holdings in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,754,592 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 393,961 shares during the quarter. Essential Utilities comprises 1.6% of Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC owned approximately 0.97% of Essential Utilities worth $109,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 733 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 43.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 141.2% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $39.79 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $39.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 0.82. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.32 and a 1 year high of $42.37.

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

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3426 per share. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 61.99%.

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.