California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 20.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 608,797 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157,556 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $24,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth $154,176,000. Amundi grew its stake in Essential Utilities by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586,622 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 611.4% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,744,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,450 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,651.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,551,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,971 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 3,650.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,255,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221,746 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE WTRG opened at $39.45 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 0.65. Essential Utilities Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.10 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its 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). The company had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WTRG. Barclays lifted their target price on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.80.

About Essential Utilities

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.