American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

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

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of AWR stock opened at $85.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.49. American States Water has a one year low of $66.03 and a one year high of $87.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.82.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). American States Water had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm had revenue of $161.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.00 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in American States Water by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,203,000 after acquiring an additional 19,391 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American States Water during the first quarter worth $533,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of American States Water by 63.2% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after purchasing an additional 10,538 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in American States Water by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 845,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,389,000 after purchasing an additional 6,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in American States Water by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 122,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,866,000 after buying an additional 21,868 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Company Profile

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.