American States Water Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.47 (NYSE:AWR)

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.4655 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th.

American States Water has increased its dividend by an average of 8.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 71 years. American States Water has a payout ratio of 56.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect American States Water to earn $3.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.86 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.4%.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of American States Water stock opened at $85.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.49. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $87.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.10.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). American States Water had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The company had revenue of $161.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American States Water

In other American States Water news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $40,445.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 38,519 shares in the company, valued at $3,115,801.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AWR. StockNews.com raised American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st.

About American States Water

American States Water Company, through its subsidiaries, provides water and electric services to residential, commercial, industrial, and other customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Water, Electric, and Contracted Services. The company purchases, produces, distributes, and sells water, as well as distributes electricity.