Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.02), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $434.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.76 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 29.52% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The business’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 EPS.

Essential Utilities Price Performance

WTRG opened at $39.45 on Wednesday. Essential Utilities has a 12-month low of $32.07 and a 12-month high of $41.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.15. The company has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.83.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.3255 per share. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insider Transactions at Essential Utilities

In other news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 2,342 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $87,661.06. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 53,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,425.13. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTRG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Essential Utilities from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.40.

About Essential Utilities

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.