American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $87.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

American States Water Stock Performance

AWR stock opened at $85.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.69. American States Water has a 52 week low of $66.03 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American States Water

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in American States Water by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American States Water by 23.9% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,738 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of American States Water by 13.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after acquiring an additional 4,060 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of American States Water by 63.2% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after acquiring an additional 10,538 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of American States Water by 242.6% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 7,860 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.