American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.03 EPS

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03), Briefing.com reports. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm had revenue of $161.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. American States Water’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

American States Water Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:AWR traded up $1.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $86.44. 22,531 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 216,888. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.49. American States Water has a 1 year low of $66.03 and a 1 year high of $87.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.59.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AWR shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $40,445.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,115,801.91. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.