Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Purchases New Stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 8,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,061,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,091,820,000 after acquiring an additional 2,245,256 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,134,000 after purchasing an additional 972,803 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,842,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,935,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,309,000 after buying an additional 656,136 shares during the period. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 2,043,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,202,000 after buying an additional 609,915 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $39.30 on Friday. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.18 and a 1-year high of $41.78. The company has a market capitalization of $10.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.81. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The business had revenue of $604.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $698.77 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTRG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.50.

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.