Ladenburg Thalmann Initiates Aqua America Coverage With Buy, $25 PT

Ladenburg Thalmann initated Aqua America WTR coverage with a Buy rating and $25 price target in a research report published today. In the report, Ladenburg Thalmann states, "For over a decade, Aqua has delivered industry leading results by nearly every financial and operational metric on which regulated water utilities can be measured – 1) O&M expense ratios, 2) EBITDA margins, 3) Net Profit margins, 4) consolidated earned ROEs, 5) rate base growth, 6) earnings growth, 7) book value per share growth and 8) dividend growth." Shares of Aqua America were trading at $21.46 at the time of posting, up 0.75% from Wednesday's market close.