Aqua America (WTR) is a large U.S.-based water utility company, serving nearly 3 million people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas. It is considered a good dividend growth stock by many investors due to its consistent price and dividend growth over several decades. Specifically, Aqua America has increased its dividend for over 25 straight years, and its more recent five-year dividend growth rate tops 8.4%, which demonstrates the strong underlying financial condition of the company.
As an investor focused on long-term dividend growth, I have recently invested in WTR stock because of its track history, future prospects, and impressive financial metrics. You can see the metrics I use to analyze companies for my personal portfolio here.
For those who like a good long-term thesis before investing, the water utilities sector has a lot of potential in the coming decades, primarily because many geographic areas in the U.S. increasingly require more or better water infrastructure - as a result of droughts, water shortages, and/or the need for overall improvements to water infrastructure. Aqua America is thus in a great position to capitalize, primarily through increasing its customer base. In fact, WTR has substantially increased its customer base in the recent past, primarily through a number of acquisitions.
