Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases 400 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 51,374 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $1,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 28,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 120,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,383,000 after acquiring an additional 633 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,731,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,190,000 after acquiring an additional 175,707 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 26,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 6,530 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 19,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on WTRG. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.33.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $37.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $41.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.87.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. On average, equities analysts predict that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.3255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.00%.

About Essential Utilities

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.