American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Issues Earnings Results

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.02), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $155.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.00 million. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 19.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of AWR stock traded down $0.86 during trading on Thursday, hitting $81.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 168,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,458. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.64 and a 200-day moving average of $73.96. American States Water has a 52 week low of $66.03 and a 52 week high of $89.66.

American States Water Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from American States Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $87.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com raised American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Activity

In other American States Water news, Director Thomas A. Eichelberger bought 640 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $77.62 per share, with a total value of $49,676.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,805.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Thomas A. Eichelberger acquired 640 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $77.62 per share, with a total value of $49,676.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at $543,805.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary Ann Hopkins acquired 560 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $71.53 per share, with a total value of $40,056.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $257,937.18. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.