Brokerages Set Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) PT at $43.00

Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the four analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.00.

Separately, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total value of $207,073.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 57,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Utilities

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WTRG. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 320,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502 shares in the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 34.5% during the 1st quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 23,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 6,007 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 9,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Essential Utilities during the 1st quarter worth $436,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial raised its stake in Essential Utilities by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 15,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:WTRG opened at $36.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.66, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.73. Essential Utilities has a fifty-two week low of $32.07 and a fifty-two week high of $43.84.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.26% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The company had revenue of $479.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Essential Utilities will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.3071 dividend. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.13%.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.