Essential Utilities (WTRG) to Release Earnings on Thursday

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results after the market closes on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.75 per share for the quarter. Persons that wish to register for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $479.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.50 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 24.26% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. On average, analysts expect Essential Utilities to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Essential Utilities Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of WTRG opened at $36.46 on Tuesday. Essential Utilities has a 12 month low of $32.07 and a 12 month high of $43.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.3071 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This is an increase from Essential Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.23 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 66.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Insider Activity at Essential Utilities

In other news, CAO Robert A. Rubin sold 5,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total value of $207,073.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,149,100.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.