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. Its last market close was $40.55 – an increase of 0.45% over the previous week. Essential Utilities employs 3,258 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around $1.9 billion.
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| Latest market close | $40.55 |
|---|---|
| 52-week range | $31.34 - $41.44 |
| 50-day moving average | $39.00 |
| 200-day moving average | $37.63 |
| Wall St. target price | $46.00 |
| PE ratio | 19.5588 |
| Dividend yield | $1.228 (3.26%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | $2.04 |
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.
Historical closes compared with the close of $40.55 from 2024-10-18
| 1 week (2024-10-15) | 0.45% |
|---|---|
| 1 month (2024-09-20) | 6.71% |
| 3 months (2024-07-22) | -0.25% |
| 6 months (2024-04-22) | 12.95% |
| 1 year (2023-10-20) | 23.18% |
|---|---|
| 2 years (2022-10-21) | -0.83% |
| 3 years (2021-10-22) | 46.92 |
| 5 years (2019-10-22) | 44.5638 |
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's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 20x. In other words, Essential Utilities shares trade at around 20x recent earnings.
That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.
Essential Utilities's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.7264. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Essential Utilities's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
Essential Utilities's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $1 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a Essential Utilities's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
| Revenue TTM | $1.9 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 33.5% |
| Gross profit TTM | $1.1 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 2.59% |
| Return on equity TTM | 9.45% |
| Profit margin | 28.74% |
| Book value | $22.52 |
| Market Capitalization | $10.9 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Essential Utilities.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
Total ESG risk: 43.19
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Essential Utilities's overall score of 43.19 (as at 12/31/2018) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 91st percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Essential Utilities is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
Environmental score: 25.85/100
Essential Utilities's environmental score of 25.85 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Essential Utilities is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Social score: 20.5/100
Essential Utilities's social score of 20.5 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Essential Utilities is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
Governance score: 13.34/100
Essential Utilities's governance score puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Essential Utilities is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Controversy score: 1/5
ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Essential Utilities scored a 1 out of 5 for controversy – the highest score possible, reflecting that Essential Utilities has managed to keep its nose clean.
Essential Utilities Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.
| Total ESG score | 43.19 |
|---|---|
| Total ESG percentile | 90.56 |
| Environmental score | 25.85 |
| Environmental score percentile | 9 |
| Social score | 20.5 |
| Social score percentile | 9 |
| Governance score | 13.34 |
| Governance score percentile | 9 |
| Level of controversy | 1 |
Dividend payout ratio: 60.83% of net profits
Recently Essential Utilities has paid out, on average, around 60.83% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.26% 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 3.26% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Essential Utilities's case, that would currently equate to about $1.228 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 2 September 2024. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 11 August 2024 (the "ex-dividend date").
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.
Over the last 12 months, Essential Utilities's shares have ranged in value from as little as $31.3415 up to $41.4358. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
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 0.838. This would suggest that Essential Utilities's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).
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. In addition, the company provides utility service line protection solutions and repair services to households. It serves approximately 5. 5 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, and Kentucky under the Aqua and Peoples brands.
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