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

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03), Briefing.com reports. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 18.85%. The firm had revenue of $161.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. American States Water’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

American States Water Trading Down 1.1 %

American States Water stock traded down $0.98 during trading on Thursday, hitting $84.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 417,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 217,788. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.20 and its 200 day moving average is $78.55. American States Water has a 1-year low of $66.03 and a 1-year high of $87.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.70.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.4655 dividend. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the company’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 owns 38,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,115,801.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AWR. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $80.00 to $87.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th.

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.