Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Stock Holdings in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,689 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in American States Water were worth $2,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,831,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,506,000 after acquiring an additional 33,371 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of American States Water by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,118,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,935,000 after purchasing an additional 264,257 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in American States Water by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 855,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,471,000 after buying an additional 4,177 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 32,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in American States Water during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,254,000. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AWR shares. Bank of America cut shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th.

Insider Activity at American States Water

In related news, Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $74,613.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,226,687. This trade represents a 5.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American States Water Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AWR opened at $79.84 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $78.07 and its 200 day moving average is $78.73. American States Water has a 52 week low of $69.46 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.56.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.17 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. On average, equities research analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.4655 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.68%.

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.