Wall Street Zen Downgrades Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) to Sell

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Friday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Barclays started coverage on Essential Utilities in a research report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research cut Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $39.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.82. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $33.18 and a 12-month high of $41.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.53.

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

Institutional Trading of Essential Utilities

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SouthState Corp boosted its position in Essential Utilities by 834.7% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the first quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 75.0% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 950 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

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.