American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Shares Purchased by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 258 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in American States Water were worth $756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in American States Water by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after buying an additional 894 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in American States Water in the fourth quarter valued at $818,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in American States Water by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 368,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,628,000 after buying an additional 11,867 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in American States Water during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its position in American States Water by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 14,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $80.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st.

American States Water Stock Up 1.8 %

AWR opened at $83.12 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.49. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $85.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $80.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.08.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.02). American States Water had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 18.85%. The firm had revenue of $155.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.4655 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 38,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,115,801.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.