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

American States Water (NYSE:AWR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 0.4655 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 23 consecutive years. American States Water has a dividend payout ratio of 52.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Up 0.5 %

NYSE:AWR traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $73.36. 260,217 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 181,350. American States Water has a fifty-two week low of $66.03 and a fifty-two week high of $87.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $76.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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