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

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.20.

Several research firms recently commented on WTRG. Barclays set a $38.00 target price on Essential Utilities and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG stock opened at $40.34 on Thursday. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $36.32 and a 12-month high of $42.37. The company has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.35.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.11. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 24.91%.The firm had revenue of $699.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $611.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter worth about $154,176,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 587.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,472,000 after acquiring an additional 3,479,762 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 3rd quarter worth about $128,137,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 25.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,972,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,057,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,335,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,586,622 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.