American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Announces Earnings Results

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.17 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.96%.

American States Water Price Performance

Shares of American States Water stock opened at $75.35 on Friday. American States Water has a 1-year low of $66.03 and a 1-year high of $87.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $75.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.51. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.53.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AWR. Bank of America lowered shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

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.