Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.80.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WTRG. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $43.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th.

Institutional Trading of Essential Utilities

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 0.0%

Essential Utilities stock opened at $36.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.74. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $10.41 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 0.66. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $36.10 and a 12-month high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 21.82%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities will post 2.22 EPS 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.