Personal Capital Advisors Corp lifted its holdings in Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,092,883 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 24,616 shares during the period. Personal Capital Advisors Corp owned about 0.42% of Essential Utilities worth $45,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,683,039 shares of the company's stock worth $1,262,044,000 after buying an additional 229,596 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 3.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,218,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $675,886,000 after purchasing an additional 449,065 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 16.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,863,108 shares of the company's stock valued at $223,720,000 after purchasing an additional 692,260 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 4.5% during the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,269,425 shares of the company's stock valued at $149,904,000 after purchasing an additional 141,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,699,357 shares of the company's stock worth $123,765,000 after acquiring an additional 73,693 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.96% of the company's stock.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $46.93 on Friday. Essential Utilities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.50 and a 12-month high of $52.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.77. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $47.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.04.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 10th will be paid a $0.287 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 9th. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is 64.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In related news, Director Ellen T. Ruff sold 8,560 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.96, for a total transaction of $410,537.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,577.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WTRG. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Essential Utilities to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, October 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Essential Utilities to $53.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.86.

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.

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