Essential Utilities (WTRG) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. Aqua has a long history of providing water and wastewater services, while Peoples is a natural gas utility serving customers in the northeastern United States. Essential Utilities’ service territories extend across multiple states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana, Virginia and Georgia, as well as additional areas associated with its gas operations.

Essential Utilities was formerly known as Aqua America and adopted its current name following the acquisition of Peoples in 2020. The company is headquartered in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and is led by Christopher Franklin, who serves as chairman and chief executive officer. Its operations are focused on maintaining regulated utility infrastructure and delivering reliable water, wastewater and natural gas services.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $40.41 to $41.23
• 50-Day Range: $37.92 to $42.02
• 52-Week Range: $36.10 to $42.51
• Volume: 2.14 million shs
• Average Volume: 2.41 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $11.49 billion
• P/E Ratio: 20.66
• Dividend Yield: 3.56%
• Price Target: $43.75
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Essential Utilities Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Essential Utilities scored higher than 84% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 39th out of 96 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.6 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Essential Utilities has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.67, and is based on 2 strong buy ratings, 3 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Essential Utilities is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Essential Utilities has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 9.95%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Essential Utilities are expected to grow by 9.95% in the coming year, from $2.21 to $2.43 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 20.66, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.75.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 20.66, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 24.11.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Essential Utilities has a PEG Ratio of 3.09. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Essential Utilities has a P/B Ratio of 1.67. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.55% of the float of Essential Utilities has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Essential Utilities has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.54, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Essential Utilities has recently increased by 39.27%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Essential Utilities is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.51%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Essential Utilities has been increasing its dividend for 32 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Essential Utilities is 73.47%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Essential Utilities will have a dividend payout ratio of 59.26% next year. This indicates that Essential Utilities will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.59

News Sentiment

Essential Utilities has a news sentiment score of 0.59. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 4 news articles for Essential Utilities this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 3 people have searched for WTRG on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -67% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 3 people have added Essential Utilities to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Essential Utilities insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $112,915.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.36% of the stock of Essential Utilities is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

74.78% of the stock of Essential Utilities is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/05/2026
• Record date for 9/1 Dividend: 8/11/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/1 Dividend: 8/11/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/01/2026
• Today: 9/21/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/03/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Water Utilities
• Sub-Industry: Water Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:WTRG
• CIK: 78128
• Web: www.essential.co
• Phone: (610) 527-8000
• Fax: 610-645-1061
• Employees: 3,303
• Year Founded: 1968

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Essential Utilities: $43.75
• High Price Target: $49.00
• Low Price Target: $40.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +8.1%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.67
• Research Coverage: 9 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.96
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 20.66
• Forward P/E Ratio: 18.32
• P/E Growth: 3.09
• Net Income: $616.37 million
• Net Margins: 21.60%
• Pretax Margin: 22.74%
• Return on Equity: 8.23%
• Return on Assets: 2.91%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.20
• Current Ratio: 0.78
• Quick Ratio: 0.62

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $2.47 billion
• Price / Sales: 4.64
• Cash Flow: $3.60 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 11.24
• Book Value: $24.22 per share
• Price / Book: 1.67

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 283,780,000
• Free Float: 282,757,000
• Market Cap: $11.49 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.64