American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Posts Earnings Results

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 Price Performance

Shares of AWR opened at $74.48 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 0.53. American States Water has a 12-month low of $66.03 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.55.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4655 per share. 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America cut American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th.

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.