KBC Group NV Sells 1,123 Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

KBC Group NV lowered its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,948 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,123 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Essential Utilities by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,754,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,811,000 after purchasing an additional 9,822 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Essential Utilities by 0.5% during the third quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,034,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,471,000 after acquiring an additional 10,560 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 117.3% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,962,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059,320 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,585,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,152,000 after purchasing an additional 84,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,500,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,002,000 after purchasing an additional 234,857 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTRG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted 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, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.00.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $38.83 on Tuesday. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.57 and a 52 week high of $41.78. The company has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $435.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.95 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.