21,480 Shares in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Purchased by Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ acquired a new stake in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 21,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,676,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American States Water in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in American States Water by 367.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of American States Water by 2,173.9% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in American States Water by 198.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in American States Water during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America cut American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $74,613.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,226,687. This trade represents a 5.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of American States Water stock opened at $77.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $75.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. American States Water has a 1-year low of $66.03 and a 1-year high of $87.50.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. As a group, analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.68%.

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.