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Only 11 investor-owned water utilities remain in the United States. Water utilities offer a steady income but increases in revenue often must be negotiated with regulatory bodies. CTWS and others have used acquisitions as a means to ensure growth amidst a regulated pricing environment. Descriptions ARTNA AWR CTWS CWCO CWT Yearly Forward Dividend 0.89 0.90 1.07 0.30 0.67 Yield 3.43% 2.16% 2.9% 2.57% 2.99% Payout Ratio 68.55% 52.46% 50.76% 63.31% 55.94% 5 year Div Annual Growth 3.3% 10.50% 2.33% 1.39% 2.02% Over the past five years AWR has seen impressive dividend growth, allowing it to beat the S&P 500. The rest have fallen short but in the process have offered nice yields that have continued to rise, albeit at a modest clip. SPY data by YCharts Artesian Resources (NASDAQ: ARTNA ) is the largest investor owned water utility on the Delmarva Peninsula and eighth largest in the US. It serves 301,000 people with 82,900 metered customers, producing 7.6 billion gallons per year. There is 1,201 miles of main, 5,827 fire hydrants and 69 treatment facilitates. The average residential water service cost for customers is $1.57 per day. Source: ARTNA Investor Relations Website Artesian invested $23.7 million in infrastructure improvements in 2014. American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR ) is a public utility holding company that owns 100% of its subsidiaries, Golden State Water Company and American States Utility Services, Inc. GSWC is a regulated water utility servicing 258,000 customers in California and electricity for 24,000, also in California. 75 cities are served with 38 water stations. ASUS offers contracted water and waste water services. Presently nine military bases water needs are being provided by ASUS with more active bids taking place and have the potential to be awarded in the next 5 years. Many of these contracts with military bases are 50 year contracts. 60% of AWR’s water supply comes from groundwater and 35% from Metropolitan Water Districts and its member agencies (mostly from the Colorado River). Source: AWR Investor Relations Website For the last two years AWR has instituted stock share repurchases each amounting of up to 3.2% of total outstanding shares. Connecticut Water Service Inc. (NASDAQ: CTWS ) is a regionally focused, regulated water utility. In addition to coverage in Connecticut, CTWS also owns the Main Water Company that covers small regions of Maine. There are 123,000 utility customers, 2,100 miles of pipe, 239 wells, 25 surface water supplies providing 176 million gallons per day. Source: CTWS Investor Relations Website CTWS’s strategy for growth is conservative acquisitions, such as two Maine water companies in 2012. Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. ( CWCO ) is a company focused on the business of seawater reverse osmosis desalination plans and water distributions in the Caribbean across 14 plants with a production capacity of 26.4 million gallons per day. Source: CWCO Investor Relations Website As of last quarter, CWCO plans on beginning the process of assisting in building another plant costing $600 million, this time in the continental United States. CWCO will take a minority position in the plant and will assist in operating it. This plant will be in Rosarito, Mexico and will serve Tijuana, Mexico’s 1.8 million people and San Diego, California’s 3.1 million. California Water Service Group ( CWT ) is the third largest investor-owned water utility in the US and provides water utility services for customers in California, Washington, New Mexico, and Hawaii. In these states CWT serves more than 2 million people through just shy of 500,000 customer connections, 95% of which are in California. Source: CWT Investor Relations Website In 2014 CWT invested $132 million in capital improvements and received authorization from regional governments to increase their rates, yielding $45 million in new revenue. Scalper1 News
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