Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.75.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WTRG shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Essential Utilities from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised Essential Utilities from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,073.85. The trade was a 14.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Utilities

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter worth approximately $638,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Essential Utilities by 122.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 943,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,308,000 after purchasing an additional 519,933 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in Essential Utilities by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Essential Utilities stock opened at $41.04 on Friday. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $36.10 and a 12-month high of $42.51. The company has a market cap of $11.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.28.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Essential Utilities will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were paid a $0.3606 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc (NYSE: WTRG) is a regulated utility company that provides essential water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Its water operations include the treatment and distribution of drinking water, while its wastewater operations collect and treat sewage. The company’s natural gas business distributes gas through regulated utility networks.

The company operates primarily through its Aqua and Peoples businesses.