NFJ Investment Group LLC Trims Stock Position in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

NFJ Investment Group LLC decreased its position in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 520 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned 0.11% of American States Water worth $3,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of American States Water by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 85,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,669,000 after purchasing an additional 7,076 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in American States Water by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in American States Water by 607.8% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in American States Water during the fourth quarter worth about $5,234,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of American States Water by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 609,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,393,000 after acquiring an additional 32,938 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,226,687. This trade represents a 5.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American States Water Stock Performance

NYSE:AWR opened at $79.42 on Thursday. American States Water has a 52 week low of $66.63 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.17. 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 $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.56.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.17 million. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 20.03%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.