ESSENTIAL UTILITIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (continued) (In thousands of dollars, except per share amounts)
Note 14 – Stockholders’ Equity
At December 31, 2025, the Company had 600,000,000 shares of common stock authorized; par value $0.50. Shares outstanding and treasury shares held were as follows: December 31, 2025 2024 2023 Shares outstanding 283,082,809 274,823,591 273,296,037 Treasury shares 3,423,086 3,386,069 3,299,191
At December 31, 2025, the Company had 1,770,819 shares of authorized but unissued Series Preferred Stock, $1.00 par value.
On January 23, 2026, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.3426 per share, payable March 2, 2026, to all shareholders of record on February 9, 2026. We expect to pay $96,996 in connection with this dividend. In March 2024, the Company filed a new universal shelf registration with the SEC to allow for the potential future offer and sale by the Company, from time to time, in one or more public offerings, of an indeterminate amount of our common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, and other securities specified therein at indeterminate prices. This registration statement is effective for three years and replaces a similar filing that expired in the second quarter of 2024. The Company has an acquisition shelf registration statement on file with the SEC which permits the offering, from time to time, of an aggregate of $500,000 in shares of common stock and shares of preferred stock in connection with acquisitions. The balance remaining available for use under the acquisition shelf registration statement as of December 31, 2025 is $487,155.
The form and terms of any securities issued under the universal shelf registration statement and the acquisition shelf registration statement will be determined at the time of issuance.
The Company has a Dividend Reinvestment and Direct Stock Purchase Plan (“Plan”) that allows reinvested dividends to be used to purchase shares of common stock at a five percent discount from the current market value. Under the direct stock purchase program, shares are issued throughout the year. The shares issued under the Plan are either shares purchased by the Company’s transfer agent in the open-market or original issue shares. In 2025, 2024, and 2023, the Company sold 416,037, 433,688, and 430,487 original issue shares of common stock through the dividend reinvestment portion of the Plan, for net proceeds of $15,301, $15,476, and $16,005, respectively. The Company recorded a regulatory asset for the underfunded status of its pension and other post-retirement benefit plans that would otherwise be charged to other comprehensive income, as it anticipates recovery of its costs through customer rates.
At-the-Market Offering
On August 13, 2024, the Company filed a prospectus supplement under the 2024 universal shelf registration statement relating to a new at-the-market equity sales program (“ATM”), under which it may issue and sell shares of its common stock up to an aggregate offering price of $1,000,000 (“2024 ATM”). This 2024 ATM replaced the Company’s previous ATM filed on October 14, 2022 (“2022 ATM”).
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