Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE:WTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be given a dividend of 0.2047 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, September 1st. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 14th. This is an increase from Aqua America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19.
Aqua America has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 9 consecutive years. Aqua America has a dividend payout ratio of 56.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Aqua America to earn $1.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.77 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.
Aqua America (NYSE:WTR) opened at 33.58 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 25.73 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.29 and a 200 day moving average of $32.05. Aqua America has a 52-week low of $28.03 and a 52-week high of $34.41.
Aqua America (NYSE:WTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.02. Aqua America had a net margin of 28.41% and a return on equity of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $187.79 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Aqua America will post $1.36 EPS for the current year.
In other news, Director Richard H. Glanton sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.83, for a total transaction of $137,886.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,455.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Richard Scott Fox sold 5,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.89, for a total transaction of $189,117.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 18,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,937.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
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A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. BidaskClub lowered shares of Aqua America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Aqua America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Northcoast Research assumed coverage on shares of Aqua America in a research report on Thursday, May 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.25.
Aqua America Company Profile
Aqua America, Inc is a holding company. The Company is engaged in providing water or wastewater services concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indiana and Virginia. The Company is the holding company for its primary subsidiary, Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc Its market-based activities are conducted through Aqua Resources, Inc (Aqua Resources) and Aqua Infrastructure, LLC (Aqua Infrastructure).
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