Essential Utilities Stock Analysis

WTRG Stock  USD 37.44  0.22  0.58%   
Below is the normalized historical share price chart for Essential Utilities extending back to March 17, 1980. This chart has been adjusted for all splits and dividends and is plotted against all major global economic recessions. As of today, the current price of Essential Utilities stands at 37.44, as last reported on the 12th of February 2026, with the highest price reaching 37.81 and the lowest price hitting 37.13 during the day.
IPO Date
30th of December 1987
200 Day MA
38.7192
50 Day MA
38.52
Beta
0.815
 
Black Monday
 
Oil Shock
 
Dot-com Bubble
 
Housing Crash
 
Credit Downgrade
 
Yuan Drop
 
Covid
 
Interest Hikes
Essential Utilities holds a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.174. At this time, Essential Utilities' Short Term Debt is most likely to increase significantly in the upcoming years. The Essential Utilities' current Long Term Debt is estimated to increase to about 8.9 B, while Net Debt To EBITDA is projected to decrease to 3.30. Essential Utilities' financial risk is the risk to Essential Utilities stockholders that is caused by an increase in debt.

Asset vs Debt

Equity vs Debt

Essential Utilities' liquidity is one of the most fundamental aspects of both its future profitability and its ability to meet different types of ongoing financial obligations. Essential Utilities' cash, liquid assets, total liabilities, and shareholder equity can be utilized to evaluate how much leverage the Company is using to sustain its current operations. For traders, higher-leverage indicators usually imply a higher risk to shareholders. In addition, it helps Essential Stock's retail investors understand whether an upcoming fall or rise in the market will negatively affect Essential Utilities' stakeholders.
For many companies, including Essential Utilities, marketable securities, inventories, and receivables are the most common assets that could be converted to cash. However, for Essential Utilities, the most critical issue when managing liquidity is ensuring that current assets are properly aligned with current liabilities. If they are not, Essential Utilities' management will need to obtain alternative financing to ensure there are always enough cash equivalents on the balance sheet to meet obligations.
Price Book
1.564
Enterprise Value Ebitda
13.7006
Price Sales
4.4796
Shares Float
282.2 M
Dividend Share
1.319
Given that Essential Utilities' debt-to-equity ratio measures a Company's obligations relative to the value of its net assets, it is usually used by traders to estimate the extent to which Essential Utilities is acquiring new debt as a mechanism of leveraging its assets. A high debt-to-equity ratio is generally associated with increased risk, implying that it has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt. Another way to look at debt-to-equity ratios is to compare the overall debt load of Essential Utilities to its assets or equity, showing how much of the company assets belong to shareholders vs. creditors. If shareholders own more assets, Essential Utilities is said to be less leveraged. If creditors hold a majority of Essential Utilities' assets, the Company is said to be highly leveraged.
At this time, Essential Utilities' Liabilities And Stockholders Equity is most likely to increase significantly in the upcoming years. The Essential Utilities' current Other Stockholder Equity is estimated to increase to about 5 B, while Treasury Stock is projected to decrease to (79.1 M). . At this time, Essential Utilities' Price Earnings To Growth Ratio is most likely to slightly decrease in the upcoming years. The Essential Utilities' current Price To Book Ratio is estimated to increase to 3.01, while Price To Operating Cash Flows Ratio is projected to decrease to 11.50.
Essential Utilities is undervalued with Real Value of 39.06 and Target Price of 42.17. The main objective of Essential Utilities stock analysis is to determine its intrinsic value, which is an estimate of what Essential Utilities is worth, separate from its market price. There are two main types of Essential Utilities' stock analysis: fundamental analysis and technical analysis.
The Essential Utilities stock is traded in the USA on New York Stock Exchange, with the market opening at 09:30:00 and closing at 16:00:00 every Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri except for officially observed holidays in the USA. Here, you can get updates on important government artifacts, including earning estimates, SEC corporate filings, announcements, and Essential Utilities' ongoing operational relationships across important fundamental and technical indicators.
Check out Your Current Watchlist to better understand how to build diversified portfolios, which includes a position in Essential Utilities. Also, note that the market value of any company could be closely tied with the direction of predictive economic indicators such as signals in real.
For more detail on how to invest in Essential Stock please use our How to Invest in Essential Utilities guide.

Essential Stock Analysis Notes

About 85.0% of the company outstanding shares are owned by institutional investors. The company has Price to Book (P/B) ratio of 1.56. Historically many companies with similar price-to-book (P/B) ratio do better than the market in the long run. Essential Utilities last dividend was issued on the 9th of February 2026. The entity had 5:4 split on the 3rd of September 2013. Essential Utilities, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. Essential Utilities, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Essential Utilities operates under UtilitiesRegulated Water classification in the United States and is traded on New York Stock Exchange. It employs 3211 people. For more information please call Christopher Franklin at 610 527 8000 or visit https://www.essential.co.

Essential Utilities Quarterly Total Revenue

476.97 Million

Essential Utilities Investment Alerts

Essential Utilities generated a negative expected return over the last 90 days
Essential Utilities has high likelihood to experience some financial distress in the next 2 years
Essential Utilities currently holds 7.73 B in liabilities with Debt to Equity (D/E) ratio of 1.17, which is about average as compared to similar companies. Essential Utilities has a current ratio of 0.74, indicating that it has a negative working capital and may not be able to pay financial obligations when due. Note, when we think about Essential Utilities' use of debt, we should always consider it together with its cash and equity.
Over 85.0% of Essential Utilities outstanding shares are owned by institutional investors
On 31st of December 2025 Essential Utilities paid $ 0.326 per share dividend to its current shareholders
Latest headline from finance.yahoo.com: Assessing Essential Utilities Valuation After Recent Steady Share Performance

Essential Largest EPS Surprises

Earnings surprises can significantly impact Essential Utilities' stock price both in the short term and over time. Negative earnings surprises usually result in a price decline. However, it has been seen that positive earnings surprises lead to an immediate rise in a stock's price and a gradual increase over time. This is why we often hear news about some companies beating earning projections. Financial analysts spend a large amount of time predicting earnings per share (EPS) along with other important future indicators. Many analysts use forecasting models, management guidance, and additional fundamental information to derive an EPS estimate.
Reported
Fiscal Date
Estimated EPS
Reported EPS
Surprise
2001-07-31
2001-06-300.10.110.0110 
2001-02-07
2000-12-310.080.090.0112 
2000-05-02
2000-03-310.070.080.0114 
View All Earnings Estimates

Essential Utilities Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Scores

Essential Utilities' ESG score is a quantitative measure that evaluates Essential Utilities' performance and commitment regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. These scores are becoming increasingly crucial in investment decision-making processes, providing insights into non-financial aspects of Essential Utilities' operations that may have significant financial implications and affect Essential Utilities' stock price as well as guide investors towards more socially responsible investments.

Essential Utilities Thematic Classifications

In addition to having Essential Utilities stock in your portfolios, you can add positions using our predefined set of ideas and optimize them against your very unique investing style. A single investing idea is a collection of funds, stocks, ETFs, or cryptocurrencies that are programmatically selected from a pull of investment themes. After you determine your favorite investment opportunity, you can then obtain an optimal portfolio that will maximize potential returns on the chosen idea or minimize its exposure to market volatility. If you are a result-oriented investor, you can benefit from optimizing one of our existing themes to build an efficient portfolio against your specific investing outlook.
Basic Utilities Idea
Basic Utilities
Electric, gas, water, and other energy utilities

Essential Stock Institutional Investors

Institutional investors include commercial and private banks, credit unions, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies that invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term and may influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments.
Shares
Morgan Stanley - Brokerage Accounts2025-06-30
3.3 M
Northern Trust Corp2025-06-30
M
Ubs Asset Mgmt Americas Inc2025-06-30
2.9 M
Citadel Advisors Llc2025-06-30
2.8 M
Norges Bank2025-06-30
2.8 M
Bank Of New York Mellon Corp2025-06-30
2.7 M
Macquarie Group Ltd2025-06-30
2.7 M
Btim Corp2025-06-30
2.5 M
Maple-brown Abbott Limited2025-03-31
2.4 M
Blackrock Inc2025-06-30
34.2 M
Vanguard Group Inc2025-06-30
30.4 M
Note, although Essential Utilities' institutional investors appear to be way more sophisticated than retail investors, it remains unclear if professional active investment managers can reliably enhance risk-adjusted returns by an amount that exceeds fees and expenses.

Essential Market Capitalization

The company currently falls under 'Large-Cap' category with a current market capitalization of 10.66 B.

Essential Profitablity

The company has Profit Margin (PM) of 0.28 %, which maeans that even a very small decline in it revenue will erase profits resulting in a net loss. This is way below average. Similarly, it shows Operating Margin (OM) of 0.36 %, which suggests for every 100 dollars of sales, it generated a net operating income of $0.36.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Return On Tangible Assets 0.04  0.04 
Return On Capital Employed 0.05  0.08 
Return On Assets 0.04  0.04 
Return On Equity 0.11  0.12 

Management Efficiency

Essential Utilities has return on total asset (ROA) of 0.0314 % which means that it generated a profit of $0.0314 on every $100 spent on assets. This is way below average. Similarly, it shows a return on stockholder's equity (ROE) of 0.1029 %, meaning that it created $0.1029 on every $100 dollars invested by stockholders. Essential Utilities' management efficiency ratios could be used to measure how well Essential Utilities manages its routine affairs as well as how well it operates its assets and liabilities. At this time, Essential Utilities' Return On Capital Employed is most likely to slightly decrease in the upcoming years. The Essential Utilities' current Return On Equity is estimated to increase to 0.12, while Return On Tangible Assets are projected to decrease to 0.04. At this time, Essential Utilities' Non Currrent Assets Other are most likely to increase significantly in the upcoming years. The Essential Utilities' current Other Current Assets is estimated to increase to about 89.3 M, while Return On Tangible Assets are projected to decrease to 0.04.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Book Value Per Share 20.37  21.39 
Tangible Book Value Per Share 12.67  13.30 
Enterprise Value Over EBITDA 12.76  11.03 
Price Book Value Ratio 1.85  3.01 
Enterprise Value Multiple 12.76  11.03 
Price Fair Value 1.85  3.01 
Enterprise Value17.4 B18.3 B
The strategic initiatives led by Essential Utilities' management are central to its market success. By analyzing these initiatives, we provide a clear picture of the stock's growth prospects.
Dividend Yield
0.0358
Operating Margin
0.3553
Profit Margin
0.2809
Forward Dividend Yield
0.0364
Beta
0.815

Technical Drivers

As of the 12th of February 2026, Essential Utilities shows the Variance of 1.62, standard deviation of 1.27, and Mean Deviation of 0.996. In respect to fundamental indicators, the technical analysis model provides you with a way to check existing technical drivers of Essential Utilities, as well as the relationship between them. Please confirm Essential Utilities market risk adjusted performance, information ratio, as well as the relationship between the Information Ratio and skewness to decide if Essential Utilities is priced favorably, providing market reflects its regular price of 37.44 per share. Given that Essential Utilities has information ratio of (0.12), we urge you to verify Essential Utilities's prevailing market performance to make sure the company can sustain itself at a future point.

Essential Utilities Price Movement Analysis

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Essential Utilities Insider Trading Activities

Some recent studies suggest that insider trading raises the cost of capital for securities issuers and decreases overall economic growth. Trading by specific Essential Utilities insiders, such as employees or executives, is commonly permitted as long as it does not rely on Essential Utilities' material information that is not in the public domain. Local jurisdictions usually require such trading to be reported in order to monitor insider transactions. In many U.S. states, trading conducted by corporate officers, key employees, directors, or significant shareholders must be reported to the regulator or publicly disclosed, usually within a few business days of the trade. In these cases Essential Utilities insiders are required to file a Form 4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when buying or selling shares of their own companies.

Essential Utilities Outstanding Bonds

Essential Utilities issues bonds to finance its operations. Corporate bonds make up one of the largest components of the U.S. bond market, which is considered the world's largest securities market. Essential Utilities uses the proceeds from bond sales for a wide variety of purposes, including financing ongoing mergers and acquisitions, buying new equipment, investing in research and development, buying back their own stock, paying dividends to shareholders, and even refinancing existing debt. Most Essential bonds can be classified according to their maturity, which is the date when Essential Utilities has to pay back the principal to investors. Maturities can be short-term, medium-term, or long-term (more than ten years). Longer-term bonds usually offer higher interest rates but may entail additional risks.

Essential Utilities Predictive Daily Indicators

Essential Utilities intraday indicators are useful technical analysis tools used by many experienced traders. Just like the conventional technical analysis, daily indicators help intraday investors to analyze the price movement with the timing of Essential Utilities stock daily movement. By combining multiple daily indicators into a single trading strategy, you can limit your risk while still earning strong returns on your managed positions.

Essential Utilities Corporate Filings

8K
10th of February 2026
Report filed with the SEC to announce major events that shareholders should know about
ViewVerify
F4
9th of February 2026
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
4th of February 2026
Other Reports
ViewVerify
F4
27th of January 2026
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
23rd of January 2026
Other Reports
ViewVerify
22nd of January 2026
Other Reports
ViewVerify
7th of January 2026
Other Reports
ViewVerify
31st of December 2025
Other Reports
ViewVerify

Essential Utilities Forecast Models

Essential Utilities' time-series forecasting models are one of many Essential Utilities' stock analysis techniques aimed at predicting future share value based on previously observed values. Time-series forecasting models ae widely used for non-stationary data. Non-stationary data are called the data whose statistical properties e.g. the mean and standard deviation are not constant over time but instead, these metrics vary over time. These non-stationary Essential Utilities' historical data is usually called time-series. Some empirical experimentation suggests that the statistical forecasting models outperform the models based exclusively on fundamental analysis to predict the direction of the market movement and maximize returns from investment trading.

Essential Utilities Bond Ratings

Essential Utilities financial ratings play a critical role in determining how much Essential Utilities have to pay to access credit markets, i.e., the amount of interest on their issued debt. The threshold between investment-grade and speculative-grade ratings has important market implications for Essential Utilities' borrowing costs.
Piotroski F Score
6
HealthyView
Beneish M Score
(2.12)
Possible ManipulatorView

Essential Utilities Debt to Cash Allocation

Many companies such as Essential Utilities, eventually find out that there is only so much market out there to be conquered, and adding the next product or service is only half as profitable per unit as their current endeavors. Eventually, the company will reach a point where cash flows are strong, and extra cash is available but not fully utilized. In this case, the company may start buying back its stock from the public or issue more dividends.
Essential Utilities currently holds 7.73 B in liabilities with Debt to Equity (D/E) ratio of 1.17, which is about average as compared to similar companies. Essential Utilities has a current ratio of 0.74, indicating that it has a negative working capital and may not be able to pay financial obligations when due. Note, when we think about Essential Utilities' use of debt, we should always consider it together with its cash and equity.

Essential Utilities Common Stock Shares Outstanding Over Time

Essential Utilities Assets Financed by Debt

The debt-to-assets ratio shows the degree to which Essential Utilities uses debt to finance its assets. It includes both long-term and short-term borrowings maturing within one year. It also includes both tangible and intangible assets, such as goodwill.

Essential Utilities Debt Ratio

    
  42.0   
It seems as roughly 58% of Essential Utilities' assets are financed through equity. Typically, companies with high debt-to-asset ratios are said to be highly leveraged. The higher the ratio, the greater risk will be associated with the Essential Utilities' operation. In addition, a high debt-to-assets ratio may indicate a low borrowing capacity of Essential Utilities, which in turn will lower the firm's financial flexibility.

Essential Utilities Corporate Bonds Issued

Most Essential bonds can be classified according to their maturity, which is the date when Essential Utilities has to pay back the principal to investors. Maturities can be short-term, medium-term, or long-term (more than ten years). Longer-term bonds usually offer higher interest rates but may entail additional risks.

Essential Short Long Term Debt Total

Short Long Term Debt Total

9.33 Billion

At this time, Essential Utilities' Short and Long Term Debt Total is most likely to increase significantly in the upcoming years.

About Essential Stock Analysis

Stock analysis is the technique used by a trader or investor to examine and evaluate how Essential Utilities prices is reacting to, or reflecting on a current market direction and economic conditions. It can be used to make informed decisions about market timing, and when buying or selling Essential shares will generate the highest return on investment. We also built our stock analysis module to help investors to gain an insight into the world economy as a whole, the stock market, thematic ideas. a specific sector, or an individual Stock such as Essential Utilities. By using and applying Essential Stock analysis, traders can create a robust methodology for identifying Essential entry and exit points for their positions.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Pretax Profit Margin 0.32  0.31 
Operating Profit Margin 0.42  0.44 
Net Profit Margin 0.26  0.14 
Gross Profit Margin 0.67  0.79 

Current Essential Analysis - Recommendations

We track the performance of the top 100 financial experts across various large and mid-size financial boutiques. Essential analyst recommendations are determined by taking all analyst recommendations and averaging them as Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Strong Sell or Sell. There is no one specific way to measure analysis performance other than comparing it to the past results via a very sophisticated attribution analysis. Essential analyst consensus and target price projections should be used in combination with other traditional techniques such as stock price forecasting, technical analysis, earnings estimate, and various momentum models.
Target PriceConsensus# of Analysts
42.17Strong Buy11Odds
Essential Utilities current and past analyst recommendations published by a number of research institutions as well as average analyst consensus.
Most Essential analysts issue ratings four times a year, at intervals of three months. Ratings are usually accompanied by a target price to helps potential investors understand Essential stock's fair price compared to its market value. Analysts arrive at stock ratings after researching public financial statements of Essential Utilities, talking to its executives and customers, or listening to Essential conference calls.
Essential Analyst Advice Details

Essential Stock Analysis Indicators

Essential Utilities stock analysis indicators help investors evaluate how Essential Utilities stock reacts to ongoing and evolving market conditions. The investors can use it to make informed decisions about market timing and determine when trading Essential Utilities shares will generate the highest return on investment. By understating and applying Essential Utilities stock analysis, traders can identify Essential Utilities position entry and exit signals to maximize returns.
Begin Period Cash Flow4.6 M
Long Term Debt7.4 B
Common Stock Shares Outstanding274.4 M
Total Stockholder Equity6.2 B
Total Cashflows From Investing Activities-1.2 B
Tax Provision-21.8 M
Quarterly Earnings Growth Y O Y0.307
Property Plant And Equipment Net13.2 B
Cash And Short Term Investments9.2 M
Cash9.2 M
Accounts Payable258.6 M
Net Debt7.7 B
50 Day M A38.52
Total Current Liabilities974.7 M
Other Operating Expenses1.3 B
Non Current Assets Total17.5 B
Forward Price Earnings16.9205
Non Currrent Assets Other1.9 B
Stock Based Compensation9.8 M

Complementary Tools for Essential Stock analysis

When running Essential Utilities' price analysis, check to measure Essential Utilities' market volatility, profitability, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, growth potential, financial leverage, and other vital indicators. We have many different tools that can be utilized to determine how healthy Essential Utilities is operating at the current time. Most of Essential Utilities' value examination focuses on studying past and present price action to predict the probability of Essential Utilities' future price movements. You can analyze the entity against its peers and the financial market as a whole to determine factors that move Essential Utilities' price. Additionally, you may evaluate how the addition of Essential Utilities to your portfolios can decrease your overall portfolio volatility.
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