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

Posted by on Jun 8th, 2023

Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.38.

WTRG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Essential Utilities from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 18th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Utilities

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Essential Utilities by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 50,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 1.7% during the first quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC now owns 14,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $757,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Piscataqua Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Essential Utilities by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Essential Utilities by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. 69.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $41.71 on Thursday. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $38.50 and a 12-month high of $52.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.82.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $726.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $682.87 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 19.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Utilities will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

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Essential Utilities, Inc is a holding company, which engages in providing water, wastewater and natural gas services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. The Regulated Water segment includes water and wastewater regulated utility companies.

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Analyst Recommendations for Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG)

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