D.A. Davidson & CO. Purchases 662 Shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 97,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in American States Water were worth $7,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in American States Water by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,884,000 after purchasing an additional 13,024 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American States Water by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 484,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,653,000 after buying an additional 102,489 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American States Water by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 418,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,873,000 after buying an additional 13,276 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of American States Water by 8,274.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 309,363 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,767,000 after buying an additional 305,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of American States Water by 114.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 271,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,599,000 after buying an additional 144,510 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American States Water from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of American States Water from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd.

American States Water Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AWR opened at $74.48 on Thursday. American States Water has a 52-week low of $66.03 and a 52-week high of $87.50. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.55. 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 (NYSE:AWR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. American States Water had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 13.53%. Sell-side analysts forecast that American States Water will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

American States Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.4655 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. American States Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.63%.

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.