American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Shares Sold by Corient Private Wealth LLC

Corient Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 223 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in American States Water were worth $626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American States Water during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 367.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 2,173.9% in the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of American States Water by 198.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of American States Water by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

American States Water Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE:AWR opened at $77.72 on Friday. American States Water has a 1 year low of $66.03 and a 1 year high of $87.50. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $143.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.17 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. As a group, sell-side 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 declared 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. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American States Water news, 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 sale, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.