Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Receives $43.80 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.80.

WTRG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Utilities

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WTRG. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 256.7% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 4,018 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 50.4% during the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 20,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $798,000 after buying an additional 6,980 shares during the last quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 114.4% during the 2nd quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 137,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,283,000 after buying an additional 73,600 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 8.5% in the second quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 197.3% in the second quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 2,833 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $39.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.79. Essential Utilities has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.65.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.