Brokerages Set Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Price Target at $42.80

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.80.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus upgraded Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essential Utilities

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

WTRG opened at $38.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $36.10 and a 12-month high of $42.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.72 and a 200-day moving average of $38.72.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

About Essential Utilities

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.