Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 15.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,264 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,900 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $1,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.5% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 6,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.5% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 8.7% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTRG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.40.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $38.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.85. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.07 and a twelve month high of $41.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.65.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.02). Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.16% and a net margin of 28.74%. The business had revenue of $434.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.3255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In related news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,342 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value of $87,661.06. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 53,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,425.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.