Assetmark Inc. Invests $50,000 in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of American States Water during the first quarter worth approximately $632,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in American States Water by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,203,000 after buying an additional 19,391 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American States Water in the 1st quarter valued at $533,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in American States Water by 104.3% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 19,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,399,000 after buying an additional 9,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in American States Water by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after buying an additional 10,538 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American States Water Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AWR opened at $84.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.43. American States Water has a 1 year low of $66.03 and a 1 year high of $87.50.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $161.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.00 million. American States Water had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AWR shares. StockNews.com lowered American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company raised American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $80.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at American States Water

In other news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $40,445.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,115,801.91. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.82% 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.