NYSE:WTRG Essential Utilities (WTRG) Stock Price, News & Analysis $37.67 -0.35 (-0.91%) Closing price 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$37.90 +0.23 (+0.60%) As of 07:39 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Stock Analysis Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestSustainabilityTrendsBuy This Stock About Essential Utilities Stock (NYSE:WTRG) 30 days 90 days 365 days Advanced Chart View Price History Chart DataSkip Price History Chart Get Essential Utilities alerts:Sign Up Key Stats Today's Range$37.35▼$38.1250-Day Range$36.82▼$39.3052-Week Range$33.18▼$41.78Volume1.53 million shsAverage Volume1.56 million shsMarket Capitalization$10.56 billionP/E Ratio16.89Dividend Yield3.45%Price Target$43.50Consensus RatingModerate Buy Company Overview 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. In addition, the company provides utility service line protection solutions and repair services to households. It serves approximately 5.5 million residential water, commercial water, fire protection, industrial water, wastewater, and other water and utility customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indiana, Virginia, and Kentucky under the Aqua and Peoples brands. The company was formerly known as Aqua America, Inc. and changed its name to Essential Utilities, Inc. in February 2020. Essential Utilities, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Read More Essential Utilities Stock Analysis - MarketRank™See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks95th Percentile Overall ScoreWTRG MarketRank™: Essential Utilities scored higher than 95% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 5th out of 97 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation. Analyst's Opinion2.4 / 5Analyst RatingModerate Buy Consensus RatingEssential Utilities has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.83, and is based on 5 buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings.Amount of Analyst CoverageEssential Utilities has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.Read more about Essential Utilities' stock forecast and price target. Earnings and Valuation2.5 / 5Proj. Earnings Growth7.04% Earnings GrowthEarnings for Essential Utilities are expected to grow by 7.04% in the coming year, from $1.99 to $2.13 per share.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the MarketThe P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 16.89, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 26.65.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. SectorThe P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 16.89, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 20.17.Price to Earnings Growth RatioEssential Utilities has a PEG Ratio of 3.45. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.Price to Book Value per Share RatioEssential 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.Read more about Essential Utilities' valuation and earnings. Short Interest4.0 / 5Short Interest LevelHealthy Percentage of Shares Shorted0.01% of the float of Essential Utilities has been sold short.Short Interest Ratio / Days to CoverEssential Utilities has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.3.Change versus previous monthShort interest in Essential Utilities has recently decreased by 99.51%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly. Dividend4.2 / 5Dividend StrengthStrong Dividend YieldEssential Utilities pays a meaningful dividend of 3.48%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.Dividend GrowthEssential Utilities has been increasing its dividend for 32 years.Dividend CoverageThe dividend payout ratio of Essential Utilities is 58.30%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.Dividend SustainabilityBased on earnings estimates, Essential Utilities will have a dividend payout ratio of 61.03% next year. This indicates that Essential Utilities will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.Read more about Essential Utilities' dividend. Sustainability and ESG3.1 / 5Environmental Score-2.18 Percentage of Shares Shorted0.01% of the float of Essential Utilities has been sold short.Short Interest Ratio / Days to CoverEssential Utilities has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.3.Change versus previous monthShort interest in Essential Utilities has recently decreased by 99.51%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly. News and Social Media2.1 / 5News Sentiment0.79 News SentimentEssential Utilities has a news sentiment score of 0.79. 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 WeekMarketBeat has tracked 7 news articles for Essential Utilities this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.Search Interest6 people have searched for WTRG on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 200% compared to the previous 30 days.MarketBeat FollowsOnly 3 people have added Essential Utilities to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -25% compared to the previous 30 days. Company Ownership1.7 / 5Insider TradingN/A Insider Buying vs. Insider SellingIn the past three months, Essential Utilities insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.Percentage Held by InsidersOnly 0.19% of the stock of Essential Utilities is held by insiders.Percentage Held by Institutions74.78% of the stock of Essential Utilities is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.Read more about Essential Utilities' insider trading history. Receive WTRG Stock News and Ratings via Email Sign-up to receive the latest news and ratings for Essential Utilities and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address WTRG Stock News HeadlinesAqua Pennsylvania Acquires City of Beaver Falls Wastewater System in Beaver CountyJuly 22 at 8:38 AM | businesswire.comEssential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Cut to Sell at Wall Street ZenJuly 21 at 2:49 AM | americanbankingnews.comIs Elon's empire crumbling?The Tesla Shock Nobody Sees Coming While headlines scream "Tesla is doomed"... Jeff Brown has uncovered a revolutionary AI breakthrough buried inside Tesla's labs. One that is helping AI escape from our computer screens and manifest itself here in the real world all while creating a 25,000% growth market explosion starting as early as October 23rd.July 23 at 2:00 AM | Brownstone Research (Ad)Pennsylvania Energy & Innovation Summit Shows Bright Future for Keystone State, Essential Utilities' Gas Infrastructure Will Support American Energy DominanceJuly 17, 2025 | businesswire.comEssential Utilities (WTRG) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?July 14, 2025 | msn.comEssential Utilities to Report Earnings for Q2 2025July 14, 2025 | businesswire.comReviewing Veolia Environnement (OTCMKTS:VEOEY) and Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG)July 13, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comWTRG - Essential Utilities Inc Executives - MorningstarJuly 4, 2025 | morningstar.comMSee More Headlines WTRG Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions How have WTRG shares performed this year? Essential Utilities' stock was trading at $36.32 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, WTRG shares have increased by 3.7% and is now trading at $37.6750. How were Essential Utilities' earnings last quarter? Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May, 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.23. The business's revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Read the conference call transcript. Who are Essential Utilities' major shareholders? Top institutional shareholders of Essential Utilities include Swedbank AB (0.13%), Maryland State Retirement & Pension System (0.09%), Assenagon Asset Management S.A. (0.05%) and AMF Tjanstepension AB (0.04%). Insiders that own company stock include Robert A Rubin, Chris Franklin, Ellen T Ruff and Colleen Arnold. View institutional ownership trends. How do I buy shares of Essential Utilities? Shares of WTRG stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services. What other stocks do shareholders of Essential Utilities own? Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Essential Utilities investors own include Humana (HUM), American Water Works (AWK), Waste Connections (WCN), Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR), The RMR Group (RMR), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH) and AU Optronics (AUOTY). Company Calendar Last Earnings5/12/2025Record date for 6/2 Dividend5/13/2025Ex-Dividend for 6/2 Dividend5/13/2025Dividend Payable6/02/2025Today7/23/2025Next Earnings (Estimated)7/31/2025Fiscal Year End12/31/2025Get Stock AlertsIndustry, Sector and Symbol Stock ExchangeNYSE SectorUtilities Industry UTIL - WATER SPLY Sub-IndustryUtilities Current SymbolNYSE:WTRG CIK78128 Webwww.essential.co Phone(610) 527-8000Fax610-645-1061Employees3,291Year FoundedN/APrice Target and Rating Average Price Target for Essential Utilities$43.50 High Price Target$46.00 Low Price Target$41.00 Potential Upside/Downside+16.0%Consensus RatingModerate Buy Rating Score (0-4)2.83 Research Coverage6 Analysts Profitability EPS (Trailing Twelve Months)$2.23 Trailing P/E Ratio16.82 Forward P/E Ratio18.84 P/E Growth3.45Net Income$595.31 million Net Margins27.17% Pretax Margin25.76% Return on Equity9.81% Return on Assets3.45% Debt Debt-to-Equity Ratio1.16 Current Ratio0.65 Quick Ratio0.57 Sales & Book Value Annual Sales$2.26 billion Price / Sales4.66 Cash Flow$3.32 per share Price / Cash Flow11.30 Book Value$22.57 per share Price / Book1.66Miscellaneous Outstanding Shares280,338,000Free Float279,805,000Market Cap$10.51 billion OptionableOptionable Beta0.79 A Beginner's Guide to Investing in CannabisUnlock your free copy of MarketBeat's comprehensive guide to pot stock investing and discover which cannabis companies are poised for growth. 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