Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $508.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $450.44 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.79% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $45.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,535,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,267,033. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.50. Essential Utilities has a 52 week low of $36.10 and a 52 week high of $46.36. The firm has a market cap of $12.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.89, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Essential Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a $0.3606 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Utilities

In related news, insider Colleen Arnold sold 2,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $112,915.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $686,073.85. This represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WTRG shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

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.