NYSE:WTRG Essential Utilities (WTRG) Stock Price, News & Analysis $40.41 -0.42 (-1.03%) Closing price 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$40.38 -0.03 (-0.07%) As of 04:43 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 Massive. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Stock Analysis Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsInsider TradesNews and TrendsOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort Interest About Essential Utilities Stock (NYSE:WTRG) View Price History Chart DataSkip Price History Chart 1 Day 5 Days 30 Days 90 Days 1 Year Advanced 1 Day 1 Day 5 Days 30 Days 90 Days 1 Year Advanced Show volume Show extended hours Get Essential Utilities alerts:Sign Up Key Stats Today's Range$40.13▼$40.8050-Day Range$38.53▼$42.0252-Week Range$36.10▼$42.51Volume1.44 million shsAverage Volume2.26 million shsMarket Capitalization$11.47 billionP/E Ratio20.62Dividend Yield3.56%Price Target$43.25Consensus RatingModerate Buy Company Overview Essential Utilities, Inc. is a regulated utility company that provides water, wastewater and natural gas services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Through its Aqua and Peoples operations, the company owns and operates water and wastewater systems, natural gas distribution networks and related infrastructure. Its services include the treatment and delivery of drinking water, collection and treatment of wastewater, and the distribution of natural gas. The company serves customers across several U.S. states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, New Jersey, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia. Its operations include regulated utility networks as well as infrastructure services such as water and wastewater system management for municipalities and other customers. Essential Utilities traces its water-utility roots to the late 19th century and was formerly known as Aqua America. In 2020, the company adopted the Essential Utilities name following its acquisition of Peoples, a natural gas utility with operations in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Christopher Franklin serves as the company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer.AI Generated. May Contain Errors. Read More Essential Utilities Stock Analysis - MarketRank™See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks92nd Percentile Overall ScoreWTRG MarketRank™: 4.58195309394 of 5 starsEssential Utilities scored higher than 92% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 22nd out of 98 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation. Analyst's Opinion2.3 / 5Analyst RatingModerate Buy Consensus RatingEssential 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/DownsideThe consensus price target for Essential Utilities is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.Amount of Analyst CoverageEssential Utilities has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.Read more about Essential Utilities' stock forecast and price target. Earnings and Valuation2.5 / 5Proj. Earnings Growth9.95% Earnings GrowthEarnings 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 MarketThe P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 20.56, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.71.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. SectorThe P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 20.56, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 23.66.Price to Earnings Growth RatioEssential Utilities has a PEG Ratio of 3.07. 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 1.66. 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 Interest5.0 / 5Short Interest LevelHealthy Percentage of Shares Shorted2.33% 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 2.69, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.Change versus previous monthShort interest in Essential Utilities has recently decreased by 12.76%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly. Dividend5.0 / 5Dividend StrengthStrong Dividend LeadershipEssential Utilities is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.53%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.Dividend GrowthEssential Utilities has been increasing its dividend for 32 years.Dividend CoverageThe dividend payout ratio of Essential Utilities is 73.47%. 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 59.26% next year. This indicates that Essential Utilities will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.Read more about Essential Utilities' dividend. News and Social Media2.7 / 5News Sentiment0.35 News SentimentEssential Utilities has a news sentiment score of 0.35. 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 is a lower news sentiment than the 0.62 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.News Coverage This WeekMarketBeat has tracked 7 news articles for Essential Utilities this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.Search InterestOnly 2 people have searched for WTRG on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -33% compared to the previous 30 days.MarketBeat Follows3 people have added Essential Utilities to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 50% compared to the previous 30 days. Company Ownership1.4 / 5Insider TradingSelling Shares Insider Buying vs. Insider SellingIn 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 Insiders0.36% 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. 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Unsubscribe at any time by replying "STOP" to any text message that you receive from MarketBeat or by visiting our mailing preferences page. Read our full terms of service and privacy policy. WTRG Stock News HeadlinesEssential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Stock Price Target Cut by UBS GroupOctober 18 at 2:26 AM | americanbankingnews.comEssential Utilities's Aqua New Jersey Completes Purchase Of Lake Tamarack WaterOctober 14, 2026 | rttnews.comBuffett's Final Warning: "The Dollar Is Going to Hell"On May 3rd, 2025, Warren Buffett looked at his shareholders for the last time and said: "The dollar is going to hell." Ray Dalio agrees. The founder of Bridgewater Associates ($150 billion AUM) calls it a "debt death spiral." But there's a specific asset class and investment system that actually thrives when the dollar collapses.October 19 at 1:00 AM | Decentralized Masters (Ad)Essential Utilities to Report Financial Results for Q3 2026October 14, 2026 | businesswire.comAqua New Jersey Acquires Lake Tamarack Water System in Sussex CountyOctober 14, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comBrad Nielsen Named Future President of Pennsylvania American WaterOctober 8, 2026 | prnewswire.comEssential Utilities Recognizes Fire Prevention Week by Highlighting Partnership and Support for Local DepartmentsOctober 5, 2026 | marketscreener.comMAqua Pennsylvania Acquires Ulster Municipal Authority Water System in Bradford CountySeptember 30, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comSee More Headlines WTRG Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions How have WTRG shares performed this year? Essential Utilities' stock was trading at $38.32 at the beginning of the year. Since then, WTRG shares have increased by 5.1% and is now trading at $40.26. How were Essential Utilities' earnings last quarter? Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August, 5th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Read the conference call transcript. Who are Essential Utilities' major shareholders? Essential Utilities' top institutional investors include Assenagon Asset Management S.A. (1.14%), AdvisorNet Financial Inc (0.08%), Toth Financial Advisory Corp (0.04%) and Vontobel Holding Ltd. (0.03%). Insiders that own company stock include Robert A Rubin 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 NVIDIA (NVDA), NextEra Energy (NEE), Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), ExxonMobil (XOM), Pfizer (PFE) and Chevron (CVX). Company Calendar Last Earnings8/05/2026Record date for 9/1 Dividend8/11/2026Ex-Dividend for 9/1 Dividend8/11/2026Dividend Payable9/01/2026Today10/19/2026Next Earnings (Estimated)11/03/2026Fiscal Year End12/31/2026Get Stock Alerts Health Indicator TradeSmith's Health IndicatorA long-term volatility-based measure designed for securities held 12 months or longer.Green: Strong and healthy uptrend with normal pullbacks.Yellow: Significant pullback but still within expected volatility.Red: Dropped beyond expected volatility; considered unhealthy. Green Zone (3m+) 1-Year History Oct 25 Jan 26 Apr 26 Jul 26 Oct 26 WTRG's financial health is in the Green zone, according to TradeSmith. WTRG has been in this zone for over 3 months. Industry, Sector and Symbol Stock ExchangeNYSE SectorUtilities Industry Water Utilities Sub-IndustryWater Utilities Current SymbolNYSE:WTRG CIK78128 Webwww.essential.co Phone(610) 527-8000Fax610-645-1061Employees3,303Year Founded1968Price Target and Rating Average Price Target for Essential Utilities$43.25 High Price Target$47.00 Low Price Target$40.00 Potential Upside/Downside+7.0%Consensus RatingModerate Buy Rating Score (0-4)2.67 Research Coverage9 Analysts Profitability EPS (Trailing Twelve Months)$1.96 Trailing P/E Ratio20.62 Forward P/E Ratio18.28 P/E Growth3.07Net Income$616.37 million Net Margins21.60% Pretax Margin22.74% Return on Equity8.23% Return on Assets2.91% Debt Debt-to-Equity Ratio1.20 Current Ratio0.78 Quick Ratio0.62 Sales & Book Value Annual Sales$2.47 billion Price / Sales4.63 Cash Flow$3.61 per share Price / Cash Flow11.18 Book Value$24.22 per share Price / Book1.67Miscellaneous Outstanding Shares283,780,000Free Float282,757,000Market Cap$11.47 billion OptionableOptionable Beta0.63 Social Links Forget Nvidia, Meta, and Google. 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