What is the purpose of using the PING utility?

It is used to verify end to end connectivity. Also helps to verify that the network is configured correctly, if you can get the reply, sometimes a reply may not come even if the if packets can reach the other end. That can be confirmed with a trace route. If the other end is reachable you get a reply, if it is out of reach you get a destination host unreachable, and if you can reach it but cannot get a reply you get a timeout.