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

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.80.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research report on Friday, May 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 83,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,191,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. Essential Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 8,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 5.3% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.4%

WTRG stock opened at $39.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $11.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.80. Essential Utilities has a 52 week low of $36.10 and a 52 week high of $42.37.

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