Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC Has $2.26 Million Stock Position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC lowered its stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 30.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 62,108 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,062 shares during the period. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $2,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LBP AM SA lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 64,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 21,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 1,332 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 143,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,210,000 after acquiring an additional 9,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 32,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTRG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $39.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.12 and its 200-day moving average is $37.83. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a one year low of $33.18 and a one year high of $41.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $604.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.77 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. Equities analysts predict that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.91%.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.