American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05, Zacks reports. American States Water had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 13.53%.

American States Water Trading Down 0.6 %

AWR stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $74.48. The stock had a trading volume of 173,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,568. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.64. American States Water has a 12-month low of $66.03 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.59.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. American States Water’s payout ratio is currently 62.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America downgraded shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th.

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.