Essential Utilities, Inc. (WTRG) — payout ratio, two ways
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Utilities · computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 60.7% | The basis that applies. A regulated utility earns an allowed return on its rate base, and the dividend is set against that. |
| Operating cash flow | 37.0% | Closer to meaningful than free cash flow, but still before the capital programme the regulator expects the company to run. |
No free cash flow figure is shown. This company does not report the inputs for it in its XBRL filings — capital expenditure, in particular, is often folded into a single investing total rather than tagged on its own. The figure is absent from the filings, not zero, and inventing one from a balance-sheet movement would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Spread between highest and lowest: 24 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $1.34 ÷ diluted EPS $2.20
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $373.8m ÷ operating cash flow $1,010.5m
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-26 · accession
0000078128-26-000050
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.