Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Acquires New Stake in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 11,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $400,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WTRG. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth $30,842,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased 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 worth $70,309,000 after purchasing an additional 656,136 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 2,043,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,202,000 after buying an additional 609,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 953,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,795,000 after buying an additional 237,096 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

NYSE WTRG opened at $39.14 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a PE ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.55. The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.44 and its 200 day moving average is $37.84. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.78.

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

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WTRG. UBS Group dropped their price target on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued 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 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.