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

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share 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 Stock Performance

NYSE AWR traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $74.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 173,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,568. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.59. American States Water has a 52 week low of $66.03 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.53.

American States Water Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.