Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Issues FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 2.000- for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 1.980. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Essential Utilities from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of WTRG stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $37.77. 71,438 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,781,526. Essential Utilities has a 1 year low of $32.07 and a 1 year high of $43.74. The stock has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $35.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.89.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $479.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.50 million. Essential Utilities had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 29.52%. Essential Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Essential Utilities will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.3071 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.29%.

Insider Activity at Essential Utilities

In related news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total value of $207,073.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,756 shares in the company, valued at $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Essential Utilities news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total value of $207,073.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,149,100.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.56, for a total value of $73,960.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $488,368.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential 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.