American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Shares Bought by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 21.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 99,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,287 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in American States Water were worth $8,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AWR. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of American States Water during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of American States Water by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of American States Water in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in American States Water by 702.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AWR shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $40,445.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,115,801.91. This represents a 0.00 % 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. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Stock Performance

American States Water stock opened at $82.14 on Friday. American States Water has a fifty-two week low of $66.03 and a fifty-two week high of $85.71. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.49.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $155.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.00 million. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 18.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American States Water will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.4655 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from American States Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.81%.

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.