American States Water (NYSE:AWR) Downgraded to “Underperform” Rating by Bank of America

Bank of America cut shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $71.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $85.00.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

American States Water Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE AWR opened at $72.85 on Monday. American States Water has a 12-month low of $66.03 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.19. The company has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.53.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its 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). The business had revenue of $161.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Redmond Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American States Water during the fourth quarter valued at $346,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of American States Water by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American States Water in the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of American States Water by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 97,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,567,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American States Water by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 484,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,653,000 after purchasing an additional 102,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% 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.