Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Purchases 449 Shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 47,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 449 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American States Water were worth $3,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,884,000 after purchasing an additional 13,024 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 205.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 440,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,974,000 after purchasing an additional 296,361 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 418,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,873,000 after purchasing an additional 13,276 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 107.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,815,000 after acquiring an additional 197,556 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AWR shares. StockNews.com downgraded American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on American States Water in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

American States Water Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of AWR opened at $72.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.53. American States Water has a 1 year low of $66.03 and a 1 year high of $87.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

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

American States Water Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4655 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. American States Water’s payout ratio is presently 62.63%.

American States Water 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.