Briefing on the Fundamentals of Essential Utilities

By Scott Lee • Wednesday, March 08 12:48 • Permanent Link

We're taking a closer look at Essential Utilities today, as the chatter surrounding the stock has increased notably in the last few weeks. Today, its shares moved 0.41% compared to 0.02% for the S&P 500. Increased investor interest and volatility surrounding the stock are not reason enough to buy in -- you should first perform your own due diligence. Here are some figures that can get you started:

Essential Utilities, Inc. operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States.
Essential Utilities has moved -9.11% over the last year compared to -6.81% for the S&P 500 -- a difference of -2.3%
WTRG has an average analyst rating of buy and is -24.58% away from its mean target price of $55.25 per share
Its trailing 12 month earnings per share (EPS) is $1.77
Essential Utilities has a trailing 12 month Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 23.54 while the S&P 500 average is 15.97
Its forward earnings per share (EPS) is $2.02 and its forward P/E ratio is 20.63
WTRG has a Price to Earnings Growth (PEG) ratio of 3.665, which shows the company is potentially overvalued when we factor growth into the price to earnings calculus.
The company has a Price to Book (P/B) ratio of 2.393 in contrast to the S&P 500's average ratio of 2.95
Essential Utilities is part of the Utilities sector, which has an average P/E ratio of 22.89 and an average P/B of 1.03
Essential Utilities has on average reported free cash flows of $-1,043,923,800.00 over the last four years, during which time they have grown by an an average of -275.1%

The above analysis is intended for educational purposes only and was performed on the basis of publicly available data. It is not to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any buy, sell, or other recommendations mentioned in the article are direct quotations of consensus recommendations from the analysts covering the stock, and do not represent the opinions of Market Inference or its writers. Past performance, accounting data, and inferences about market position and corporate valuation are not reliable indicators of future price movements. Market Inference does not provide financial advice. Investors should conduct their own review and analysis of any company of interest before making an investment decision.