How Aqua America, Inc. Makes Most of Its Money

Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) is one of the largest publicly traded water utilities on the market. The water stock is up 14% in 2017 and has a history of delivering returns to shareholders over the long haul. The gains have been deserved, too.

Revenue, income, and operating cash flow have steadily risen nearly every year. Being a cash cow has other perks: management has increased the quarterly dividend 27 times in the last 26 years. The water utility has no plans of stopping anytime soon. In fact, it plans on investing more than $1.2 billion into water distribution infrastructure between now and the end of 2019 to boost operating efficiency even further in the years ahead.

How is that possible for a company that generated $820 million in revenue in all of 2016? To understand that, we need to take a closer look at how Aqua America makes most of its money.

Source: Fool.com