Are Analysts Too Bullish On Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG)

Essential Utilities Inc (NYSE:WTRG) currently has a daily average trading volume of 1.29M but it saw 1445097 shares traded in last market. With a market cap of 10.76B USD, the company’s current market price of $39.33 came rising about 0.56 while comparing to the previous closing price of $39.11. In past 52 weeks, the stock remained buoying in the range of price level as high as $41.78 and as low as $32.07. In the recent trading on the day, stock has struck highest price mark of $38.92 while lowest mark touched by it was $39.365.

Taking a look at 20-day trading activity of Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG) gives us an average price of $39.33, while its current price level is -5.86% below from 52-week high level whereas it is 22.64% above from lowest level seen by the stock during that period. Simple moving average of 50 days or SMA-50 of the stock’s closing price is $39.36 while that of 200 days or SMA-200 reads an average of $37.26. A closer look into the stock’s movement over the week reveals that its volatility is standing at 1.53% during that period while stretching the period over a month that increases to 1.55%. It is also necessary to take a look into other indicators of a stock too, to get a better idea about its price movement. And in doing so, we find stock’s 14-day relative strength index (RSI) standing at 49.50 which implies that the stock is in neutral territory.

Northcoast upgraded its recommendation for the stock as a “Buy” from “Neutral” on September 28, 2023 while assigning a price target of $42.

Over the week, WTRG’s stock price is moving 1.00% up while it is -3.03% when we observe its performance for the past one month. Year-to-date it is 5.30% up and over the past year, the stock is showing an upside performance of 7.20%.

Currently, Essential Utilities Inc’s total number of outstanding shares is 273.30M. Company’s return on investment (ROI) stands at 4.22% and return on equity (ROE) at 9.45%. It has a price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio) of 19.27 while having a 18.42 of forward P/E ratio. Stock’s beta reads 0.83. Stock has a price to book (P/B) ratio of 1.75 while price to sale or P/S ratio amounts to 5.56. Its return on asset (ROA) is 3.34% on average.