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

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

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AWR traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $74.48. The company had a trading volume of 173,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,568. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.59. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $87.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.4655 dividend. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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