Fulton Bank N.A. Reduces Holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 20th, 2023

Fulton Bank N.A. trimmed its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,793 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,339 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Essential Utilities by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 15,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Essential Utilities by 1.7% during the first quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC now owns 14,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $757,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Essential Utilities by 0.5% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 65,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,999,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its position in Essential Utilities by 4.0% during the second quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 8,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Essential Utilities by 4.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. 69.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG opened at $42.56 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $45.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.64. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.50 and a 12-month high of $52.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.78.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.01). Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $705.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. Essential Utilities’s revenue was up 31.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a $0.287 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WTRG shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com started coverage on Essential Utilities in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Essential Utilities from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In related news, CEO Chris Franklin purchased 37,245 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $40.70 per share, with a total value of $1,515,871.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,515,871.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Essential Utilities

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Essential Utilities, Inc is a holding company, which engages in providing water, wastewater and natural gas services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. The Regulated Water segment includes water and wastewater regulated utility companies.