Q1 EPS Estimate for Essential Utilities Lowered by Analyst (2025)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 26th, 2025

Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG – Free Report) – Analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Essential Utilities in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 23rd. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.79 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.80. The consensus estimate for Essential Utilities’ current full-year earnings is $1.99 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Essential Utilities’ Q4 2025 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.37 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $0.72 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $2.23 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $0.70 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $2.38 EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Essential Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Essential Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Essential Utilities from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Utilities has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.50.

Get Our Latest Research Report on WTRG

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of WTRG stock opened at $40.13 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.97. Essential Utilities has a one year low of $33.18 and a one year high of $41.78. The stock has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $604.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $698.77 million. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.84% and a return on equity of 7.89%.

Essential Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Essential Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WTRG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at $102,600,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Essential Utilities by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,061,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,091,820,000 after buying an additional 2,245,256 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Essential Utilities by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,726,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,296,000 after buying an additional 1,597,672 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. bought a new position in Essential Utilities in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,355,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Essential Utilities by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,811,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,134,000 after acquiring an additional 972,803 shares in the last quarter. 74.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Essential Utilities

(Get Free Report)

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.

You might be interested in:

Boeing Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says