Shares of Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.50.
A number of research firms recently issued reports on WTRG. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Essential Utilities
Shares of Essential Utilities stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $38.52. 1,505,017 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,563,300. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.82. Essential Utilities has a 1 year low of $33.18 and a 1 year high of $41.78.
Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 27.84%. The company had revenue of $604.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.77 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Essential Utilities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.91%.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $102,600,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,061,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,091,820,000 after acquiring an additional 2,245,256 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,726,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597,672 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,355,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Essential Utilities by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company's stock worth $247,134,000 after purchasing an additional 972,803 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company's stock.
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.
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