American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Diana M. Bonta Sells 969 Shares

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $74,613.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,226,687. The trade was a 5.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

American States Water Stock Performance

NYSE:AWR opened at $79.30 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.01 and its 200 day moving average is $80.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. American States Water has a fifty-two week low of $66.03 and a fifty-two week 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The company had revenue of $143.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.17 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.4655 dividend. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Trading of American States Water

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in American States Water by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,831,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,506,000 after buying an additional 33,371 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 30.9% in 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 buying an additional 264,257 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in American States Water by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 855,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,471,000 after acquiring an additional 4,177 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of American States Water by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 609,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,393,000 after acquiring an additional 32,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.