Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Receives $45.17 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.1667.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WTRG shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the first quarter worth $1,507,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 14.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at $638,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 107,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,239,000 after buying an additional 4,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 28.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 498,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,713,000 after buying an additional 109,582 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

Essential Utilities stock opened at $41.65 on Thursday. Essential Utilities has a 12 month low of $33.18 and a 12 month high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.09. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 27.62%.The business had revenue of $514.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $462.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.80%.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.