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How to buy Essential Utilities stock

Learn how to easily invest in Essential Utilities stock.

Essential Utilities is an utilities-regulated water business based in the US. Essential Utilities shares (WTRG) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Essential Utilities employs 3,187 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around $2.3 billion.

How to buy Essential Utilities stock

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  2. Open an account. Provide your personal information and sign up.
  3. Fund your account. Deposit funds unto your account by linking your banking information or transfer funds from another trading account.
  4. Search for the stock name – WTRG. Search for the stock by name or ticker symbol.
  5. Buy the stock. Place your order. It's that simple.

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Essential Utilities stock price (NYSE: WTRG)

Use our graph to track the performance of WTRG stocks over time.

Essential Utilities shares at a glance

Information last updated 2023-03-17.
Latest market close$42.56
52-week range$38.01 - $51.76
50-day moving average $45.69
200-day moving average $46.37
Wall St. target price$55.25
PE ratio 24.4773
Dividend yield $1.11 (2.65%)
Earnings per share (TTM) $1.76

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Is it a good time to buy Essential Utilities stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Essential Utilities price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $42.56 from 2023-03-17

1 week (2023-03-13) 0.61%
1 month (2023-02-17) -7.78%
3 months (2022-12-20) -8.87%
6 months (2022-09-20) -7.28%
1 year (2022-03-18) -11.48%
2 years (2021-03-19) 1.37%
3 years (2020-03-20) 27.44%
5 years (2018-03-20) 41.09%

Is Essential Utilities stock undervalued or overvalued?

Valuing Essential Utilities stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Essential Utilities's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Essential Utilities financials

Revenue TTM $2.3 billion
Operating margin TTM 29.25%
Gross profit TTM $1.1 billion
Return on assets TTM 2.75%
Return on equity TTM 8.81%
Profit margin 20.33%
Book value $20.39
Market capitalisation $11.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Essential Utilities share dividends

64%

Dividend payout ratio: 63.8% of net profits

Recently Essential Utilities has paid out, on average, around 63.8% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 2.65% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Essential Utilities shareholders could enjoy a 2.65% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Essential Utilities's case, that would currently equate to about $1.11 per share.

Essential Utilities's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Essential Utilities's most recent dividend payout was on 31 May 2023. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 10 May 2023 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Essential Utilities's shares ever split?

Essential Utilities's shares were split on a 5:4 basis on 2 September 2013. So if you had owned 4 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 5 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Essential Utilities shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 20% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Essential Utilities shares which in turn could have impacted Essential Utilities's share price.

Essential Utilities share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Essential Utilities's shares have ranged in value from as little as $38.0103 up to $51.7583. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

WTRG.US volatility(beta: 0.78)Avg. volatility(beta: 1.00)LowHigh

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Essential Utilities's is 0.7808. This would suggest that Essential Utilities's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Essential Utilities overview

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. The company also provides non-utility raw water supply services for firms in the natural gas drilling industry; and water and sewer line protection solutions, and repair services to households. It serves approximately 8. 8 million residential water, commercial water, fire protection, industrial water, wastewater, and other water and utility customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky under the Aqua and Peoples brands.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of Essential Utilities is owned by insiders or institutions?
Currently 0.162% of Essential Utilities shares are held by insiders and 80.048% by institutions.
How many people work for Essential Utilities?
Latest data suggests 3,187 work at Essential Utilities.
When does the fiscal year end for Essential Utilities?
Essential Utilities's fiscal year ends in December.
Where is Essential Utilities based?
Essential Utilities's address is: 762 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, United States, 19010-3489
What is Essential Utilities's ISIN number?
Essential Utilities's international securities identification number is: US29670G1022
What is Essential Utilities's CUSIP number?
Essential Utilities's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 718009608

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