Spirit of America Management Corp NY Has $781,000 Stock Position in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG)

Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,500 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY’s holdings in Essential Utilities were worth $781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 14,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 61.4% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 21.7% in the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 1,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 10.6% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 3,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTRG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Essential Utilities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $35.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.18 and a 12 month high of $41.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.39.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The firm had revenue of $435.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th 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 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 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.