Essential Utilities Inc. (WTRG) – What Are Investment Firms Thinking About This Stock?

Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.00.

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Essential Utilities from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on Essential Utilities from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $43.53 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.43. The company has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Essential Utilities has a one year low of $36.10 and a one year high of $44.09.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 21.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3606 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value of $112,915.25. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essential Utilities

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the second quarter valued at $1,280,829,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth about $134,247,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Essential Utilities by 1,224.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,233,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,455 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the second quarter worth about $92,467,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,499.9% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,282,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,879 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc is a regulated utility company that provides water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Through its Aqua and Peoples operations, the company owns and operates water and wastewater systems, natural gas distribution networks and related infrastructure. Its services include the treatment and delivery of drinking water, collection and treatment of wastewater, and the distribution of natural gas.

The company serves customers across several U.S.