NYSE:WTRG

Essential Utilities Stock Forecast, Price & News

$45.46

-0.55 (-1.20 %)

(As of 01/22/2021 12:00 AM ET)

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Today's Range

$45.37

Now: $45.46▼

$45.95

50-Day Range

$45.24

MA: $46.47▼

$48.72

52-Week Range

$30.40

Now: $45.46▼

$54.52

Volume702,465 shs

Average Volume1.12 million shs

Market Capitalization$11.15 billion

P/E Ratio39.53

Dividend Yield2.17%

Beta0.47

Essential Utilities, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water or wastewater services in the United States. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contracts with municipal authorities and other parties. The company also provides non-utility raw water supply services for firms in the natural gas drilling industry; and water and sewer line protection solutions, and repair services to households through a third-party. It serves approximately 3 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, and Virginia. 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.

Overall MarketRank^™

1.47 out of 5 stars

Utilities Sector

83rd out of 273 stocks

Water Supply Industry

8th out of 15 stocks

1.3 Analyst's Opinion

Consensus Rating
Essential Utilities has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.67, and is based on 4 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.
Price Target Upside/Downside
According to analysts' consensus price target of $48.67, Essential Utilities has a forecasted upside of 7.1% from its current price of $45.46.
Amount of Analyst Coverage
Essential Utilities has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

1.2 Community Rank

Outperform Votes
Essential Utilities has received 1 “outperform” votes. (Add your “outperform” vote.)
Underperform Votes
Essential Utilities has received 3 “underperform” votes. (Add your “underperform” vote.)
Community Sentiment
Essential Utilities has received 75.00% “underperform” votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Essential Utilities and other stocks. Vote “Outperform” if you believe WTRG will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote “Underperform” if you believe WTRG will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

2.5 Dividend Strength

Dividend Yield
Essential Utilities pays a meaningful dividend of 2.17%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.
Dividend Growth
Essential Utilities does not have a long track record of dividend growth.
Dividend Coverage
The dividend payout ratio of Essential Utilities is 68.03%. 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 60.24% next year. This indicates that Essential Utilities will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

1.7 Company Ownership

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 $1,859,033.00 in company stock.
Percentage Held by Insiders
Only 0.19% of the stock of Essential Utilities is held by insiders.
Percentage Held by Institutions
65.66% of the stock of Essential Utilities is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

0.6 Earnings and Valuation

Earnings Growth
Earnings for Essential Utilities are expected to grow by 5.73% in the coming year, from $1.57 to $1.66 per share.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market
The P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 39.53, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 24.14.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector
The P/E ratio of Essential Utilities is 39.53, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 36.04.
Price to Earnings Growth Ratio
Essential Utilities has a PEG Ratio of 4.41. 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 2.53. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

See Top Rated MarketRank™ Stocks Here

Industry, Sector and Symbol

Stock Exchange NYSE

Industry Water supply

Sub-IndustryN/A

SectorUtilities

Current SymbolNYSE:WTRG

Previous Symbol

CUSIPN/A

CIKN/A

Webwww.essential.co

Phone610-527-8000

Employees1,583

Debt

Debt-to-Equity Ratio1.12

Current Ratio0.70

Quick Ratio0.59

Price-To-Earnings

Trailing P/E Ratio39.53

Forward P/E Ratio28.96

P/E Growth4.41

Sales & Book Value

Annual Sales$889.69 million

Price / Sales12.53

Cash Flow$2.13 per share

Price / Cash Flow21.35

Book Value$17.98 per share

Price / Book2.53

Profitability

EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year)$1.47

Net Income$224.54 million

Net Margins25.15%

Return on Equity8.83%

Return on Assets3.36%

Miscellaneous

Outstanding Shares245,272,000

Market Cap$11.15 billion

Next Earnings Date2/24/2021 (Estimated)

OptionableOptionable

$45.46

-0.55 (-1.20 %)

(As of 01/22/2021 12:00 AM ET)

30 days | 90 days | 365 days | Advanced Chart

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Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Frequently Asked Questions

How has Essential Utilities' stock price been impacted by Coronavirus?

Essential Utilities' stock was trading at $40.03 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, WTRG shares have increased by 13.6% and is now trading at $45.46.
View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.

Is Essential Utilities a buy right now?

9 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Essential Utilities in the last twelve months. There are currently 4 hold ratings, 4 buy ratings and 1 strong buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "buy" Essential Utilities stock.
View analyst ratings for Essential Utilities or view MarketBeat's top 5 stock picks.

What stocks does MarketBeat like better than Essential Utilities?

Wall Street analysts have given Essential Utilities a "Buy" rating, but there may be better short-term opportunities in the market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new trading ideas, but Essential Utilities wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five stocks may be even better buys.
View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.

What is Larry J. Merlo's approval rating as Essential Utilities' CEO?

6,978 employees have rated Essential Utilities CEO Larry J. Merlo on Glassdoor.com. Larry J. Merlo has an approval rating of 37% among Essential Utilities' employees. This puts Larry J. Merlo in the bottom 10% of approval ratings compared to other CEOs of publicly-traded companies.

When is Essential Utilities' next earnings date?

Essential Utilities is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Wednesday, February 24th 2021.
View our earnings forecast for Essential Utilities.

How were Essential Utilities' earnings last quarter?

Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November, 3rd. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $348.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $342 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 25.15% and a return on equity of 8.83%.
View Essential Utilities' earnings history.

How often does Essential Utilities pay dividends? What is the dividend yield for Essential Utilities?

Essential Utilities declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.251 per share on Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th.
View Essential Utilities' dividend history.

Is Essential Utilities a good dividend stock?

Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.17%. The dividend payout ratio of Essential Utilities is 68.03%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, Essential Utilities will have a dividend payout ratio of 60.24% next year. This indicates that Essential Utilities will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
View Essential Utilities' dividend history.

What guidance has Essential Utilities issued on next quarter's earnings?

Essential Utilities updated its FY 2021 Pre-Market earnings guidance on Monday, January, 11th. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 1.64-1.69 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.66.

What price target have analysts set for WTRG?

9 brokerages have issued 1-year target prices for Essential Utilities' stock. Their forecasts range from $45.00 to $55.00. On average, they anticipate Essential Utilities' share price to reach $48.67 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 7.1% from the stock's current price.
View analysts' price targets for Essential Utilities or view Wall Street analyst' top-rated stocks.

Who are some of Essential Utilities' key competitors?

Some companies that are related to Essential Utilities include American Water Works (AWK), Aqua America (WTR), Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (SBS), American States Water (AWR), California Water Service Group (CWT), SJW Group (SJW), Middlesex Water (MSEX), The York Water (YORW), Cadiz (CDZI), Global Water Resources (GWRS), Artesian Resources (ARTNA), Pure Cycle (PCYO) and Consolidated Water (CWCO).
View all of WTRG's competitors.

Who are Essential Utilities' key executives?

Essential Utilities' management team includes the following people:

Mr. Christopher H. Franklin, Chairman, Pres & CEO (Age 56, Pay $1.75M)
Mr. Daniel J. Schuller, Exec. VP & CFO (Age 51, Pay $801.72k)
Mr. Richard Scott Fox, Exec. VP & COO (Age 59)
Mr. Christopher Paul Luning, Exec. VP, Gen. Counsel & Sec. (Age 53)
Mr. Matthew R. Rhodes, Exec. VP of Strategy & Corp. Devel. (Age 43, Pay $705.99k)
Mr. Robert A. Rubin, Sr. VP & Chief Accounting Officer (Age 58)
Ms. Whitney S. Kellett, Chief Information Officer
Ms. Susan F. Haindl, Sr. VP & Chief Admin. Officer
Mr. Brian Dingerdissen, VP and Chief of Staff, Investor Relations & Communications
Ms. Christina Kelly, Sr. VP & Chief HR Officer

What is Essential Utilities' stock symbol?

Essential Utilities trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "WTRG."

Who are Essential Utilities' major shareholders?

Essential Utilities' stock is owned by a number of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors include Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. (0.32%), Rockland Trust Co. (0.11%), Gradient Investments LLC (0.10%), BLB&B Advisors LLC (0.05%), Bright Rock Capital Management LLC (0.05%) and Boenning & Scattergood Inc. (0.04%). Company insiders that own Essential Utilities stock include Chris Franklin, Matthew Rhodes, Richard Scott Fox and Robert A Rubin.
View institutional ownership trends for Essential Utilities.

Which major investors are selling Essential Utilities stock?

WTRG stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Pacer Advisors Inc., Boenning & Scattergood Inc., Bright Rock Capital Management LLC, Avantax Advisory Services Inc., Redpoint Investment Management Pty Ltd, BLB&B Advisors LLC, Gradient Investments LLC, and State of Alaska Department of Revenue. Company insiders that have sold Essential Utilities company stock in the last year include Chris Franklin, Matthew Rhodes, Richard Scott Fox, and Robert A Rubin.
View insider buying and selling activity for Essential Utilities or view top insider-selling stocks.

Which major investors are buying Essential Utilities stock?

WTRG stock was purchased by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Tandem Investment Advisors Inc., First American Bank, Kestra Advisory Services LLC, DNB Asset Management AS, Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC, OLD National Bancorp IN, Capital CS Group LLC, and JustInvest LLC.
View insider buying and selling activity for Essential Utilities or or view top insider-buying stocks.

How do I buy shares of Essential Utilities?

Shares of WTRG can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.

What is Essential Utilities' stock price today?

One share of WTRG stock can currently be purchased for approximately $45.46.

How big of a company is Essential Utilities?

Essential Utilities has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion and generates $889.69 million in revenue each year. The company earns $224.54 million in net income (profit) each year or $1.47 on an earnings per share basis. Essential Utilities employs 1,583 workers across the globe.

What is Essential Utilities' official website?

The official website for Essential Utilities is www.essential.co.

How can I contact Essential Utilities?

Essential Utilities' mailing address is 762 W. LANCASTER AVENUE, BRYN MAWR PA, 19010. The company can be reached via phone at 610-527-8000 or via email at [email protected]

This page was last updated on 1/24/2021 by MarketBeat.com Staff

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