Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.80.

Several research firms recently commented on WTRG. UBS Group raised Essential Utilities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Argus raised Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd.

Essential Utilities Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $38.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.74. Essential Utilities has a 1-year low of $36.10 and a 1-year high of $42.37.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $861.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essential Utilities will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pekao Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $3,547,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 257,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,278,000 after buying an additional 44,855 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Essential Utilities by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 99,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after buying an additional 28,329 shares in the last quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $1,432,000. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at $958,000. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc, formerly known as Aqua America, is a publicly traded water and natural gas utility holding company. Through its regulated water and wastewater subsidiaries, the company provides essential water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. In addition, Essential Utilities delivers natural gas distribution services in Pennsylvania through its Peoples Gas subsidiary, offering integrated utility solutions under a unified corporate framework.

The company traces its roots to the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, founded in 1886 to serve growing communities outside Philadelphia.