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

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 given 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 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th.

American States Water has raised its dividend by an average of 8.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 71 consecutive years. American States Water has a dividend payout ratio of 56.7% indicating that 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 Trading Down 0.6 %

AWR opened at $85.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $161.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at American States Water

In other news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $40,445.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,519 shares in the company, valued at $3,115,801.91. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

American States Water Company Profile

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.