Analysts Set Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Price Target at $43.20

Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.20.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WTRG. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 target price on Essential Utilities and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WTRG opened at $40.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.11. Essential Utilities has a 12 month low of $36.32 and a 12 month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $699.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.60 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.91% and a return on equity of 9.18%. Essential Utilities’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a $0.3426 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $1.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Essential Utilities’s payout ratio is 61.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 13,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 45,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 4,351 shares during the period. S Harris Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth approximately $253,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,963,000. Finally, Compound Planning Inc. raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 11,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.