Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Maintains Stake in Aqua America, Inc. (WTR)

Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank held its stake in Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE:WTR) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock at the end of the second quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank’s holdings in Aqua America were worth $320,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Aqua America by 2,818.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,234,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $489,782,000 after buying an additional 14,712,330 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aqua America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,655,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Aqua America by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,930,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $544,318,000 after buying an additional 1,095,878 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Aqua America by 4.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,078,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $356,166,000 after buying an additional 482,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Aqua America by 26.4% in the first quarter. Impax Asset Management LTD now owns 1,673,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,792,000 after buying an additional 349,580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.90% of the company’s stock.

Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE WTR) traded up 0.91% during trading on Monday, reaching $33.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 436,841 shares. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 25.73 and a beta of 0.52. Aqua America, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.03 and a 1-year high of $34.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.29.

Aqua America (NYSE:WTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34. Aqua America had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 28.59%. The business had revenue of $203.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Aqua America, Inc. will post $1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be issued a $0.2047 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 14th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. This is an increase from Aqua America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Aqua America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.78%.

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Several brokerages have recently commented on WTR. BidaskClub upgraded Aqua America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Aqua America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 13th. Finally, Northcoast Research began coverage on Aqua America in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Aqua America currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.25.

In related news, Director Richard H. Glanton sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.83, for a total transaction of $137,886.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,455.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Richard Scott Fox sold 5,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.89, for a total value of $189,117.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 18,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $617,937.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

About Aqua America

Aqua America, Inc is a holding company. The Company is engaged in providing water or wastewater services concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indiana and Virginia. The Company is the holding company for its primary subsidiary, Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc Its market-based activities are conducted through Aqua Resources, Inc (Aqua Resources) and Aqua Infrastructure, LLC (Aqua Infrastructure).