Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Shareholders to Get $0.36 Quarterly Dividend

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3606 per share on Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th.

Essential Utilities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Essential Utilities has a payout ratio of 64.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Essential Utilities to earn $2.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.3%.

Essential Utilities Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of NYSE WTRG traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $42.23. 283,969 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,250,212. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.20. The stock has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.63. Essential Utilities has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.51.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.60% and a return on equity of 8.23%. The company had revenue of $530.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Essential Utilities will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc is a regulated utility company that provides water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Through its Aqua and Peoples operations, the company owns and operates water and wastewater systems, natural gas distribution networks and related infrastructure. Its services include the treatment and delivery of drinking water, collection and treatment of wastewater, and the distribution of natural gas.

The company serves customers across several U.S.