Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Downgraded to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Monday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. UBS Group raised Essential Utilities from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Northcoast Research downgraded Essential Utilities from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $52.38.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $40.16 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Essential Utilities has a 12 month low of $38.50 and a 12 month high of $52.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.16.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.02). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 19.75% and a return on equity of 8.48%. The firm had revenue of $726.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $682.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Chris Franklin bought 37,245 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $40.70 per share, with a total value of $1,515,871.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,515,871.50. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Utilities

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WTRG. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 2.0% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,129,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,315,141,000 after acquiring an additional 576,448 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 2.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,324,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,089,311,000 after acquiring an additional 633,910 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Essential Utilities by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,295,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,169,000 after acquiring an additional 149,565 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Essential Utilities by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,020,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,318,000 after acquiring an additional 516,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management SA raised its position in Essential Utilities by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA now owns 5,816,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,687,000 after acquiring an additional 27,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.96% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

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Essential Utilities, Inc is a holding company, which engages in providing water, wastewater and natural gas services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. The Regulated Water segment includes water and wastewater regulated utility companies.