American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on AWR. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America cut shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

American States Water Stock Performance

NYSE AWR opened at $80.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.14. American States Water has a 12-month low of $66.03 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.55, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $143.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.17 million. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 20.03%. Analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.68%.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in American States Water by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,831,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,506,000 after buying an additional 33,371 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,118,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $86,935,000 after purchasing an additional 264,257 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 855,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,471,000 after purchasing an additional 4,177 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in American States Water by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 609,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,393,000 after purchasing an additional 32,938 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in American States Water by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 603,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,924,000 after purchasing an additional 76,300 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About American States Water

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.