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

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AWR. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America cut shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd.

American States Water Price Performance

Shares of AWR stock opened at $79.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $74.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.17. American States Water has a 12 month low of $66.03 and a 12 month high of $87.50.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $143.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.17 million. American States Water had a net margin of 20.03% and a return on equity of 13.63%. Analysts predict that American States Water will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of American States Water

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of American States Water in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of American States Water in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of American States Water by 92.5% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of American States Water by 367.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in American States Water by 2,173.9% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.