American States Water to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.47 (NYSE:AWR)

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.4655 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th.

American States Water has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 71 consecutive years. American States Water has a dividend payout ratio of 52.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American States Water to earn $3.34 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.86 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.7%.

American States Water Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of American States Water stock opened at $74.11 on Friday. American States Water has a 52-week low of $66.03 and a 52-week high of $87.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $76.04 and a 200 day moving average of $80.75. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.53.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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