Essential Utilities Inc (NYSE: WTRG) is 8.45% higher on its value in year-to-date trading and has touched a low of $33.18 and a high of $41.78 in the current 52-week trading range. The question becomes, what are the chances the stock will continue to grow shareholders’ wealth in the market. Here’s what analysts think will happen to its price in the coming time. The WTRG stock was last observed hovering at around $39.55 in the last trading session, with the day’s loss setting it -0.16%.
Currently trading at $39.39, the stock is 0.64% and 5.71% above its SMA20 and SMA50 respectively. However, with a daily trading volume of 1.17 million and changing -0.40% at the moment leaves the stock 2.92% off its SMA200. WTRG registered 7.13% gain for a year compared to 6-month gain of 2.13%. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average (SMA 50) of $37.2634 and a 200-day simple moving average (SMA200) of $38.27255.
The stock witnessed a 1.65% loss in the last 1 month and extending the period to 3 months gives it a 8.75%, and is 2.13% up over the last 5 days. If we measure the stock’s price variations over the week and the month, we find that the volatility rates stand at 1.58% over the week and 2.23% over the month.
Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG) has around 3291 employees, a market worth around $10.85B and $2.09B in sales. Current P/E ratio is 18.15 and Fwd P/E is 17.72. Profit margin for the company is 28.54%. Distance from 52-week low is 18.72% and -5.72% from its 52-week high. The company has generated returns on investments over the last 12 months (4.38%).
The EPS is expected to grow by 6.36% this year
872.0 institutions hold shares in Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG), with institutional investors hold 84.56% of the company’s shares. The shares outstanding are 274.82M, and float is at 274.77M with Short Float at 1.83%. Institutions hold 84.41% of the Float.
The top institutional shareholder in the company is BLACKROCK INC. with over 30.83 million shares valued at $1.15 billion. The investor’s holdings represent 11.2689 of the WTRG Shares outstanding. As of 2024-06-30, the second largest holder is VANGUARD GROUP INC with 27.82 million shares valued at $1.04 billion to account for 10.177 of the shares outstanding. The other top investors are CANADA PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD which holds 21.66 million shares representing 7.918 and valued at over $808.61 million, while T. ROWE PRICE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC. holds 5.2438 of the shares totaling 14.35 million with a market value of $535.51 million.
Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG) Insider Activity
The most recent transaction is an insider sale by Franklin Chris, the company’s Chief Executive Officer. SEC filings show that Franklin Chris sold 7,700 shares of the company’s common stock on Mar 14 ’25 at a price of $39.40 per share for a total of $0.3 million. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32229.0 shares.
Still, SEC filings show that on Jul 01 ’24, RUBIN ROBERT A (Chief Accounting Officer) disposed off 2,342 shares at an average price of $37.43 for $87661.0. The insider now directly holds 53,391 shares of Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG).
