Jones Financial Companies Lllp Has $42,000 Stake in American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 198.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in American States Water were worth $42,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American States Water during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in American States Water by 367.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in American States Water in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in American States Water by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in American States Water by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AWR shares. Bank of America lowered shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of American States Water from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Diana M. Bonta sold 969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $74,613.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,226,687. This represents a 5.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Stock Performance

Shares of AWR stock opened at $76.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.03. American States Water has a 52 week low of $66.03 and a 52 week high of $87.50.

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

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.4655 dividend. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. American States Water’s payout ratio is presently 58.68%.

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.