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 stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,226,687. The trade was 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 this hyperlink.

American States Water Stock Up 1.7 %

AWR stock opened at $79.30 on Friday. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $87.50. The company has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.09. 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 (NYSE:AWR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.17 million. As a group, analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in American States Water during the 4th quarter worth $78,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in American States Water during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in American States Water during the fourth quarter valued at $415,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of American States Water by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 153,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,936,000 after acquiring an additional 35,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in American States Water during the 4th quarter worth $573,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About American States Water

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.