Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Acquires New Position in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bfsg LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 23,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 16,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Apella Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 7,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.67.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of WTRG opened at $38.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.12. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.18 and a 1-year high of $41.65. The stock has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.78.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.09. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business had revenue of $514.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $462.70 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.79%.

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.