American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday.

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

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AWR opened at $83.12 on Thursday. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $85.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $80.72 and a 200-day moving average of $75.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.49.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $155.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.00 million. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 18.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American States Water will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This is a boost from American States Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.78%.

Insider Activity

In other American States Water news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $40,445.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 38,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,115,801.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AWR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American States Water by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,760,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $343,900,000 after purchasing an additional 132,674 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in American States Water by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 845,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,389,000 after buying an additional 6,372 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of American States Water by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 450,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,714,000 after buying an additional 24,042 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $31,974,000 after acquiring an additional 296,361 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,984,000. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.