Top-Rated Dividend StocksTop-Rated DividendNYSE:WTRG Essential Utilities (WTRG) Stock Price, News & Analysis $39.30 +0.15 (+0.38%) As of 05/20/2025 03:58 PM Eastern 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$38.94▼$39.4450-Day Range$36.93▼$41.4052-Week Range$33.18▼$41.78Volume1.08 million shsAverage Volume1.47 million shsMarket Capitalization$11.02 billionP/E Ratio19.65Dividend Yield3.31%Price Target$43.50Consensus RatingModerate Buy Company OverviewEssential 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™ Stocks97th Percentile Overall ScoreWTRG MarketRank™: Essential Utilities scored higher than 97% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 6th out of 91 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 3 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 19.65, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 25.12.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. SectorThe P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 19.65, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 20.61.Price to Earnings Growth RatioEssential Utilities has a PEG Ratio of 2.57. 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 1.82. 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 Shorted1.82% of the outstanding shares of Essential Utilities have been sold short.Short Interest Ratio / Days to CoverEssential Utilities has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.1, 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 5.19%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly. Dividend4.2 / 5Dividend StrengthStrong Dividend YieldEssential Utilities pays a meaningful dividend of 3.41%, 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 Shorted1.82% of the outstanding shares of Essential Utilities have been sold short.Short Interest Ratio / Days to CoverEssential Utilities has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.1, 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 5.19%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly. News and Social Media3.4 / 5News Sentiment1.04 News SentimentEssential Utilities has a news sentiment score of 1.04. 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 higher news sentiment than the 0.81 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.News Coverage This WeekMarketBeat has tracked 15 news articles for Essential Utilities this week, compared to 8 articles on an average week.Search InterestOnly 10 people have searched for WTRG on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% 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 Ownership1.7 / 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 0.21% 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 HeadlinesWTRG Crosses Below Key Moving Average LevelMay 16, 2025 | nasdaq.comEssential Utilities, Inc. Just Beat Earnings Expectations: Here's What Analysts Think Will Happen NextMay 16, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comURGENT: Someone's Moving Gold Out of London...People who don’t understand the gold market are about to lose a lot of money. Unfortunately, most so-called “gold analysts” have it all wrong… They tell you to invest in gold ETFs - because the popular mining ETFs will someday catch fire and close the price gap with spot gold. May 21, 2025 | Golden Portfolio (Ad)Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptMay 13, 2025 | msn.comEssential Utilities Inc (WTRG) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue Growth and ...May 13, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comEssential Utilities, Inc. (WTRG) Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptMay 12, 2025 | seekingalpha.comEssential Utilities Reports Strong First Quarter 2025 Results, 2025 Guidance and Long-Term ...May 12, 2025 | gurufocus.comAqua Pennsylvania, part of Essential Utilities gets $17.3M fundingMay 12, 2025 | msn.comSee 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 8.2% and is now trading at $39.30. View the best growth stocks for 2025 here. How were Essential Utilities' earnings last quarter? Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May, 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.23. Essential Utilities's revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Read the conference call transcript. Who are Essential Utilities' major shareholders? Essential Utilities' top institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group Inc. (10.78%), Amundi (1.99%), Invesco Ltd. (1.28%) and Northern Trust Corp (1.17%). 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 AUO (AUOTY). Company Calendar Record date for 3/3 Dividend2/10/2025Ex-Dividend for 3/3 Dividend2/10/2025Dividend Payable3/03/2025Last Earnings5/12/2025Record date for 6/2 Dividend5/13/2025Ex-Dividend for 6/2 Dividend5/13/2025Today5/20/2025Dividend Payable6/02/2025Next Earnings (Estimated)8/04/2025Fiscal Year End12/31/2025Get Stock AlertsIndustry, Sector and Symbol Stock ExchangeNYSE SectorUtilities Industry Water supply Sub-IndustryUtilities Current SymbolNYSE:WTRG CIK78128 Webwww.essential.co Phone(610) 527-8000Fax610-645-1061Employees3,210Year FoundedN/APrice Target and Rating Average Stock Price Target$43.50 High Stock Price Target$46.00 Low Stock Price Target$41.00 Potential Upside/Downside+10.7%Consensus RatingModerate Buy Rating Score (0-4)2.83 Research Coverage6 Analysts Profitability EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year)$2.23 Trailing P/E Ratio19.65 Forward P/E Ratio19.75 P/E Growth2.57Net Income$498.23 million Net Margins27.84% Pretax Margin26.63% Return on Equity7.89% Return on Assets2.79% Debt Debt-to-Equity Ratio1.17 Current Ratio0.55 Quick Ratio0.39 Sales & Book Value Annual Sales$2.26 billion Price / Sales4.88 Cash Flow$3.37 per share Price / Cash Flow11.67 Book Value$21.58 per share Price / Book1.82Miscellaneous Outstanding Shares280,338,000Free Float274,034,000Market Cap$11.02 billion OptionableOptionable Beta0.85 10 "Recession Proof" Stocks That Will Thrive in Any MarketWhich stocks are likely to thrive in today's challenging market? 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