Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,591 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned 0.12% of American States Water worth $3,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in American States Water by 172.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 78,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,554,000 after purchasing an additional 49,851 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of American States Water by 16.1% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 7,506 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of American States Water by 400.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,952 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of American States Water by 110.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,776,000 after acquiring an additional 11,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American States Water by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,884,000 after acquiring an additional 13,024 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American States Water Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AWR opened at $74.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.55. American States Water has a 1-year low of $66.03 and a 1-year high of $87.50. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.53.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. American States Water had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 19.26%. Sell-side analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.01 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.4655 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AWR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lowered shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th.

American States Water 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.