BRYN MAWR, Pa. (AP) _ Essential Utilities, Inc. (WTRG) on Tuesday reported third-quarter profit of $55.7 million.

The Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based company said it had profit of 22 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 23 cents per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 26 cents per share.

The water utility posted revenue of $348.6 million in the period.

Essential Utilities expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.53 to $1.58 per share.

Essential Utilities shares have dropped almost 10% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $42.33, a drop of nearly 3% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WTRG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WTRG

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