Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.2857.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WTRG shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Northcoast Research raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Utilities

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SouthState Corp increased 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 acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Essential Utilities in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 1,163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 1.1%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $39.16 on Friday. Essential Utilities has a 12 month low of $33.38 and a 12 month high of $42.37. The company has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $476.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.40 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 28.09%.Essential Utilities’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

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.