XTX Topco Ltd Sells 18,434 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

XTX Topco Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 55.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,813 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,434 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Utilities by 8.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 16.7% in 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 last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,726,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597,672 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,317,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,526,000 after buying an additional 11,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,690,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,025,000 after buying an additional 236,250 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTRG has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.50.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $40.50 on Friday. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.18 and a 12-month high of $41.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.80.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $604.38 million during 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 59.91%.

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.