Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Price Target Lowered to $43.00 at Robert W. Baird

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Robert W. Baird from $44.00 to $43.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Separately, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WTRG traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $38.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,119,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,793,751. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.80. Essential Utilities has a 1-year low of $32.07 and a 1-year high of $43.74.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 29.52% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The business had revenue of $479.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.50 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Essential Utilities will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.3071 dividend. This is a boost from Essential Utilities's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.23 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Essential Utilities's payout ratio is presently 58.29%.

Insider Activity at Essential Utilities

In other Essential Utilities news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,023 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.56, for a total value of $73,960.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,358 shares in the company, valued at $488,368.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Essential Utilities news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,023 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.56, for a total value of $73,960.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,358 shares in the company, valued at $488,368.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of Essential Utilities stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total transaction of $207,073.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,756 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,149,100.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Essential Utilities

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WTRG. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 17,553.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,425,350 shares of the company's stock worth $126,156,000 after buying an additional 3,405,947 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $97,288,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $52,964,000. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 271.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,225,849 shares of the company's stock worth $45,785,000 after buying an additional 896,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Utilities by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,992,080 shares of the company's stock worth $1,045,504,000 after buying an additional 823,495 shares during the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Essential Utilities

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.