Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Rating Lowered to Hold at UBS Group

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) was downgraded by research analysts at UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $45.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $46.00. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 15.09% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on WTRG. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Barclays raised their target price on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $47.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W lowered Essential Utilities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.57.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 3.6%

WTRG opened at $39.10 on Tuesday. Essential Utilities has a 12 month low of $33.18 and a 12 month high of $42.37. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.79. The company has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted 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. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 27.62%.The business had revenue of $514.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $462.70 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essential Utilities

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SouthState Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 834.7% in the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Essential Utilities during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. 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.