Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Declares $0.34 Quarterly Dividend

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a dividend of 0.3426 per share on Monday, March 2nd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th.

Essential Utilities has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Essential Utilities has a dividend payout ratio of 61.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Essential Utilities to earn $2.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.37 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.3%.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.6%

WTRG stock opened at $37.46 on Friday. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $34.58 and a 12-month high of $42.37. The business’s 50-day moving average is $38.54 and its 200 day moving average is $38.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $10.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.81.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $476.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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.