Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Receives $43.29 Average Price Target from Analysts

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.2857.

WTRG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (down from $46.00) on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Zacks Research raised Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Baird R W downgraded Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 price objective on Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,246,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,246,719,000 after buying an additional 838,450 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,591,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,321,000 after buying an additional 641,743 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 25.5% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,057,000 after buying an additional 1,822,306 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Essential Utilities by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 5,637,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,997,000 after acquiring an additional 146,960 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,734,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,313,000 after acquiring an additional 173,319 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG opened at $38.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 0.81. Essential Utilities has a 52-week low of $33.18 and a 52-week high of $42.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.61.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 28.09% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. Research analysts predict that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.3426 dividend. This represents a $1.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 56.85%.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, formerly known as Aqua America, is a publicly traded water and natural gas utility holding company. Through its regulated water and wastewater subsidiaries, the company provides essential water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. In addition, Essential Utilities delivers natural gas distribution services in Pennsylvania through its Peoples Gas subsidiary, offering integrated utility solutions under a unified corporate framework.

The company traces its roots to the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, founded in 1886 to serve growing communities outside Philadelphia.