Cullen Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Cullen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 19,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WTRG. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essential Utilities news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. This trade represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $41.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.00. The company has a market cap of $11.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.64.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%.The firm had revenue of $530.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.3606 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

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.